On Monday, the White House said that Israeli officials have agreed to take the United States's "concerns" about a possible invasion of Rafah in Gaza into consideration after a virtual meeting.
It remains unclear if the Monday negotiations will pressure Israel to postpone or cancel its planned assault on the crowded southern Gaza city, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have taken shelter.
Israeli Officials Agree to US Concerns on Possible Rafah Invasion
According to the US White House, officials from both countries engaged in constructive engagement on Rafah.
The statement said senior officials and government experts, including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, and his Israeli counterpart Tzachi Hanegbi, attended the meeting.
"The US side expressed concerns with various courses of action in Rafah. The Israeli side agreed to take these concerns into account and to have follow-up discussions between experts," the White House said, adding that further discussions would be held, including another meeting as early as next week.
The potential assault on Rafah has been a rare point of public disagreement between the administration of US President Joe Biden and Israel.
Over 1.5 million people live in the city, which is near Ergypt's border. The vast majority of them were displaced from their homes by the Israeli invasion.
Furthermore, Rafah serves as the region's primary entry point for humanitarian aid.
US officials have warned that a ground campaign in Gaza would be a "mistake," highlighting that civilians stuck in the city have nowhere else to go. The possible impact of a ground invasion on the already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza has also drawn alarm from Washington.
However, Israel has made it clear that eliminating the remaining Hamas units will need a major assault on Rafah.
Although the US has stated that it shares the goal of eliminating Hamas, it also claimed that there are other ways to attack the Palestinian group without launching a full-scale Rafah invasion.
The initial schedule for the Monday talks was set last month. However, they were rescheduled after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled Israel's delegation to the United Nations Security Council in protest at a resolution urging a ceasefire that the Biden administration chose not to veto.
On Monday, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said in a virtual meeting that the US wants to move on the issue quickly.
Jean-Pierre told reporters that if they are going to move forward with a military operation, they have to have this conversation as they have to understand how they will move forward.
Furthermore, the Biden administration has repeatedly said that there are no red lines in Gaza that would prevent US aid and weaponry deliveries to Israel, even if it has warned against a Rafah invasion.
Nearly 33,000 Palestinians have died in the Gaza war, and the region is on the edge of hunger due to Israel's siege.
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Biden Administration Decides Not to Veto Ceasefire Resolution
On three separate occasions, the US has used its veto power to block a ceasefire in Gaza established by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
This run of victories ended on Monday when Biden's administration abstained from the vote and allowed the most recent ceasefire resolution to pass instead of vetoing it.
The US move attracted a lot of attention as an indication of Biden's mounting frustration with the Israeli government, which continues to carry out its deadly military operation in Gaza.
However, Palestinian rights advocates argue that Washington's support for Israel needs to be fundamentally reevaluated to go beyond rhetoric and symbolism.
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