Not that I trust a single word from the Biden regime and the Israelis but here maybe what's being planned. Doesn't look like Netanyahu is getting his way fully and does look like yesterday's ICC application to dock Netanyahu is already having some affect. It will be interesting to know what transpired in the so-called 'bilateral' meetings between the Saudis and the Americans over the last few days. Several accounts suggested that Netanyahu, if not Israel itself, was somewhat being bypassed.
But then, this so-called scaling down of the Rafah operation could be due to the mounting Israeli casualties.
Washington Post analyst says plan to send two divisions into south Gaza city has been shelved, unnamed Israeli defense officials have agreed on how 'day after' will look
www.timesofisrael.com
Israel moves to more limited Rafah assault plan, to which US will not object – report
Washington Post analyst says plan to send two divisions into south Gaza city has been shelved, unnamed Israeli defense officials have agreed on how ‘day after’ will look
Israel has decided to shelve plans for a major offensive in the Gaza Strip’s southern city of Rafah, and will act in a more limited manner, after discussions with the US on the matter, Washington Post analyst David Ignatius
reported Monday.
Ignatius said, based on conversations with unidentified officials with knowledge of the matter, that a previous plan to send two divisions into the city will not move forward, and operations will instead be more restrained.
Washington believes the new plans will result in fewer civilian casualties and thus is not expected to oppose them, Ignatius wrote.
He wrote that after US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with Saudi and Israeli officials this week, Washington had signposted “the direction of a gradual end to Israeli combat operations and the beginning of a still-fuzzy ‘day after.'”
The report said that unspecified Israeli defense officials have also agreed on how Gaza will look at the conclusion of the war.
“[It] will include a Palestinian security force drawn in part from the Palestinian Authority’s administrative payroll in Gaza. This Palestinian force will be overseen by a governing council of Palestinian notables, backed by moderate Arab states such as Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia,” Ignatius wrote. “Some Israeli officials —
but not Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — accept that this governing entity would have ties with the PA in Ramallah.”
Ignatius said additionally that Hamas has signaled that it “might” accept this outline as part of a truce and hostage deal.
However, the columnist noted that Monday’s
announcement by the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, that he had requested arrest warrants from the court’s judges for Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, along with top Hamas leaders,
could have an as yet unknown impact.
