US, Israel defence chiefs to meet as Gaza tensions rise
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin is set to meet with his Israeli counterpart and discuss ways to defeat Hamas other than conducting a ground invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah, the Pentagon says.
Antony Blinken, the U.S. secretary of state, meets with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in Jerusalem on Feb. 7, 2024. Credit: Chuck Kennedy/U.S. State Department.
Pentagon press secretary Major General Pat Ryder told reporters Austin’s planned Tuesday morning meeting with Defence Minister Yoav Gallant is still on, even though Israel abruptly cancelled the visit of a high-level delegation to Washington this week.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled the visit in protest over Monday’s UN Security Council decision calling for an immediate ceasefire.
The US abstained, deciding not to use its veto power, and the resolution passed 14-0.
“There are ways to go about addressing the threat of Hamas, while also taking into account civilian safety,” Ryder said.
“A lot of those are from lessons, our own lessons, conducting operations in urban environments. I would expect the conversations to cover those kinds of things.”
Israel says it cannot defeat Hamas without going into Rafah, where it says the group has four battalions composed of thousands of fighters.
Israel’s offensive has killed more than 32,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and driven a third of Gaza’s population to the brink of starvation.
It was launched in response to Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, which killed some 1200 people.
Hamas-led militants took about 250 people hostage and are still holding about 100 hostages, plus the remains of about 30 others, after most of the rest were freed during a ceasefire last year in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners.
The Security Council resolution calls for a ceasefire during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Netanyahu accused the US of “retreating” from a “principled position” by allowing the vote to pass without conditioning the ceasefire on the release of hostages.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby said the US was disappointed in the decision to cancel the delegation’s visit.
He said the talks with Gallant would likely include some of what the US had planned to discuss with the Israeli delegation on the possible Rafah invasion.
The White House was aiming to talk to the Israelis about possible alternatives to a ground invasion of Rafah.
On Monday Gallant met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
Kirby said those meetings had not been intended as a replacement for the delegation meetings.
AAP
