Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant described the country's plan to invade Rafah as a "precise operation," even as American Secretary of State Antony Blinken criticized the invasion for failing to mitigate civilian deaths or guarantee a total defeat of Hamas.
Gallant made the remarks during a phone call with Blinken discussing "developments in Gaza, including IDF operations across the Strip in the face of terror hotspots, and the precise operation in the Rafah area against remaining Hamas battalions, while securing the [Rafah] crossing," according to a readout of their phone call.
Blinken criticized the planned invasion during a Sunday morning appearance on NBC's Meet the Press.
"Right now, the trajectory that Israel is on - even if it goes in and takes heavy action in Rafah - there will still be thousands of armed Hamas left," Blinken said. "The trajectory right now is that going into Rafah, even to deal with these remaining battalions, especially in the absence of a plan for civilians, risks doing terrible harm to civilians and not solving the problem."
The civilian population of Rafah has swelled to more than a million people in recent months - many of whom are Palestinians fleeing Israeli bombardment in other regions of Gaza.
Israel maintains that invading Rafah is necessary to defeat Hamas but for months the U.S. has warned against this course of action. During his Sunday interview, Blinken said that the Israelis had provided no "credible" plan to mitigate civilian casualties.
During his Sunday evening call with Gallant, Blinken reiterated these concerns, according to State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.
"The Secretary underscored the urgent need to protect civilians and aid workers in Gaza and urged the Minister to ensure assistance can move into Gaza and help address distribution challenges inside of Gaza as Israel pursues Hamas targets," Miller said in a statement.
