WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden mentioned in an MSNBC interview on Saturday that Israel’s threatened invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza can be his “purple line” for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu however then instantly backtracked, saying there was no purple line and “I’m by no means going to go away Israel.”
In a considerably contradictory alternate together with his interviewer, Biden mentioned “they can not have 30,000 extra Palestinians useless as a consequence of going after” Hamas militants.
Biden and his aides have urged Netanyahu in sturdy phrases to not launch a significant offensive in Rafah till Israel crafts a plan for mass evacuation of civilians from the final space of Gaza it has not but invaded with floor forces. Greater than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million individuals are sheltering within the Rafah space.
“There’s different methods to deal, to get to, to cope with … the trauma brought on by Hamas,” Biden mentioned, referring to the Islamist group’s Oct. 7 rampage in southern Israel by which 1,200 folks had been killed.
Requested whether or not an Israeli invasion of Rafah can be a purple line for him with Netanyahu, Biden mentioned: “It’s a purple line however I am by no means going to go away Israel. The protection of Israel continues to be essential. So there isn’t any purple line (by which) I’ll minimize off all weapons so they do not have the Iron Dome to guard them.”
Biden insisted, nonetheless, that Netanyahu “should pay extra consideration to the harmless lives being misplaced as a consequence of the actions taken.”
He reiterated his name for a six-week ceasefire for hostage releases and support supply, although negotiations seem to have stalled.
Requested whether or not a ceasefire may nonetheless be reached earlier than the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins on or round March 10, Biden mentioned: “I believe it is at all times attainable. I by no means surrender on that.”
(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick; Modifying by Daniel Wallis)
