Two U.S. officials and one former U.S. official said a virtual meeting on Monday between top U.S. and Israeli officials to discuss Israel's plans for a ground invasion of Rafah in Gaza became contentious after the Americans rejected Israel's proposal to evacuate Palestinian civilians sheltering there.
According to sources, Israel's strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer yelled and waved his arms while defending the idea. The officials said national security advisor Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken remained calm and did not reply.
Officials say Israel proposed moving 1.4 million inhabitants from Rafah to tents north of the city over several weeks. The officials stated the Israeli proposal did not address sanitary issues or analyze how much food or water would be needed or where it would come from. They said Israeli officials had only considered sourcing a fraction of the hundreds of thousands of tents needed.
One former and two current U.S. officials said Israeli officials screamed when they told the idea was unrealistic.Two administration officials said Dermer often gets agitated in meetings with U.S. officials and that the discussion was no more confrontational than other recent talks.
One person claimed the meeting was productive and meant to launch a series of discussions between the U.S. and Israel concerning Israel's battle against Hamas, not to present detailed plans. Two current and one former officials stated the Israelis did not specify a ground invasion of Rafah. A U.S.-Israeli meeting next week is likely to elaborate on such plans.
After this item was published, an Israeli official who attended the conference called the NBC News description "a misrepresentation of what occurred in the room." Though disagreeable, the meeting was helpful and respectful.
A young Palestinian stands on a rooftoop observing the wreckage in Rafah, southern Gaza, after Israeli airstrikes overnight on April 2, 2024. Sullivan, Blinken, and more than seven White House, State Department, and Pentagon leaders attended the virtual discussion. Dermer and national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi were Israeli.
After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called off an in-person meeting he and President Joe Biden had agreed to hold in Washington, Netanyahu tried to show his displeasure with the U.S. decision to abstain from voting on, rather than veto, a UN Security Council resolution on the Gaza war.
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