US delegation meets with Netanyahu, Israel launches airstrikes across Gaza

Locals in Gaza said Israeli aircraft and tanks fired shells in several areas across the enclave, as White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday.

Before the meeting, the White House said Mr. Sullivan was expected to ask Israel to attack Hamas militia groups in a more focused manner, instead of launching an all-out attack on the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

Israel has recently begun advancing on the city of Rafah, claiming it is the last stronghold of Hamas. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have fled the area, considered one of the last refuges in Gaza.

“There is no safe place in the whole Gaza Strip,” Majid Omran told Reuters, adding that his family had evacuated Rafah and returned to the ruins of their former home in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, which they had fled nearly five months ago.

“We brought our children and grandchildren here to live under the rubble of what used to be our home. We had nowhere else to hide.”

Israeli forces also advanced into Jabalia in northern Gaza overnight and early Sunday, re-entering an area they said they had cleared in an earlier phase of the military operation.

The Israeli military said the operation in Jabalia – the largest of eight refugee camps in Gaza – was a high-precision operation aimed at preventing Hamas from regrouping in the area.

The Israeli military said it was “operating to identify armed terrorist elements and… carrying out a series of air strikes in support of ground forces” in Jabalia.

Discussion, tunnels and threats

Ahead of Sunday's talks, an Israeli official said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his senior advisers would try to reach a consensus with Sullivan on the need to carry out an attack on Rafah.

The official, who asked to remain anonymous, said the US government's doubts about the feasibility of Israel's humanitarian measures would likely be eased by the evacuation of about half the city's Palestinian population over the past 12 days.

“We have demonstrated that this campaign is not only necessary, but also completely feasible.”

Photo: REUTERS/Rami Zohod

The official also said Israel would also express concern about dozens of tunnels its forces had discovered under Rafah that linked to Egypt – a country that has condemned the military sweep.

“These tunnels were used by Hamas to arm itself with weapons and ammunition, and could have been used to transport hostages or senior Hamas members out of Gaza,” said Gilad Noam, Israel’s deputy attorney general for international relations, in a hearing in The Hague on Friday, providing rare details of allegations that Egypt’s state information service has dismissed.

Mr Netanyahu has insisted the operation in Rafah, where Israel believes up to a quarter of Hamas may be hiding, could be completed within weeks.

Washington has expressed concern for the safety of hundreds of thousands of forcibly displaced Palestinians sheltering in Rafah, and has insisted that in addition to being evacuated, they should also be provided with alternative temporary shelters.

At least 28 Palestinians were killed on Sunday, most of them in an airstrike on a residential house in Nuseirat in central Gaza.

Gaza's Civil Emergency Services said in a statement that rescue teams had recovered the bodies of 150 Palestinians killed by Israeli troops in recent days, and that about 300 homes had been hit by Israeli air and ground fire.

On Friday, the US military said a convoy of trucks had begun moving aid into Gaza from a temporary port it had built, the first aid shipment to the enclave in weeks.

The Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), an armed group fighting alongside Hamas in Gaza, issued a statement claiming the temporary port was built to defuse political pressure on Israel, and declaring that Israeli or US troops present in its territory would be considered legitimate targets.

On Saturday, Hamas also raised concerns about the port, and issued a warning aimed at foreign military forces in Gaza, without making any direct threats.

In March 2024, when US President Joe Biden announced plans to build a temporary US military port, he affirmed: “No US soldiers will fight here.”

Nguyen Quang Minh (According to Reuters)

Source: https://www.nguoiduatin.vn/phai-doan-my-gap-mat-ong-netanyahu-israel-khong-kich-toan-gaza-a664397.html