An all-out attack on the city of Rafah in Gaza would only provoke \u201canarchy,\u201d the US secretary of state has insisted<\/p>\n\n\n\n
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has criticized Israel\u2019s conduct of the war in Gaza, claiming that an all-out offensive on Rafah in the south of the Palestinian enclave would only provoke \u201canarchy,\u201d rather than eliminating Hamas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a pair of TV interviews on Sunday, Blinken underscored that Washington believes Israeli forces should \u201cget out of Gaza\u201d as their tactics have failed to neutralize Hamas and could drive a lasting insurgency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The top US diplomat told CBS that a full-scale invasion of Rafah could come \u201cpotentially at an incredibly high cost\u201d for civilians, and that even a massive assault on the southern Gazan city was unlikely to end the threat from Hamas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIsrael is on the trajectory, potentially, to inherit an insurgency with many armed Hamas left, or if it leaves [Gaza] a vacuum filled by chaos, filled by anarchy and probably refilled by Hamas,\u201d Blinken stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He pointed out that the militant group had already returned to certain areas of northern Gaza that Israel had \u201cliberated.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Washington is waiting to see credible plans from West Jerusalem for Gaza once the war is finally over, Blinken said in another interview with NBC, adding \u201cwe\u2019ve been talking to them [Israeli authorities] about a much better way of getting an enduring result.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Blinken\u2019s comments come as Israeli forces have been pushing deeper into the densely populated Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians have crowded in hopes of refuge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bombardment in the eastern parts of Rafah has already sent 300,000 Gazans fleeing, according to local authorities. Israel has claimed that the city hosts four battalions of Hamas fighters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Friday, Blinken delivered a report to Congress on the Israeli military\u2019s operations in Gaza that said it is \u201creasonable to assess\u201d that the Jewish state has violated international humanitarian law. The report, however, stopped short of formally finding that the Israeli military had already done so. It also claimed there is no \u201ccomplete information\u201d about whether US weapons were used in those actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
US President Joe Biden admitted last week that at least some Palestinian civilians in Gaza were killed by American-made bombs, and vowed to halt the supply of any weapons that Israel could use in a major military operation in Rafah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n