Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, scrapped his aides’ planned trip to Washington on Monday where they were expected to discuss plans for an offensive in the Gaza city of Rafah.
The steps were taken after the US refrained from using a veto to block a United Nations Security Council resolution which was backed by Russia and China calling for a ceasefire without any preconditions.
Israel said it felt the US decision was harming its effort to contain Hamas and hurting its attempts to free hostages. “(It is) a clear retreat from the consistent US position in the Security Council since the beginning of the war. (It) gives Hamas hope that international pressure will allow them to get a ceasefire without releasing our hostages,” the statement from the Prime Minister’s Office, Israel said.
“We’re very disappointed that they won’t be coming to Washington, DC, to allow us to have a fulsome conversation with them about viable alternatives to going in on the ground in Rafah,” the US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.
Israel PM Netanyahu had earlier warned that he would call off the visit of Israeli national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and his strategic affairs minister to Washington if the US veto was not used on UNSC Resolution 2728.
The Gaza war broke out with Hamas’s unprecedented attack of October 7 which resulted in about 1,160 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Militants also seized about 250 hostages, of whom Israel believes around 130 are still held in Gaza, including 33 presumed dead.
Vowing to destroy Hamas and free the captives, Israel has carried out a relentless bombardment and ground invasion of the coastal territory.
The health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip on Monday put the total Palestinian death toll at 32,333, most of them women and children.
Hamas welcomed the Security Council resolution and reaffirmed its readiness to negotiate the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Meanwhile, firebrand right-wing Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called the UNSC ‘antisemitic’. “The Security Council decision proves that the United Nations is anti-Semitic, and its Secretary General is anti-Semitic and encourages Hamas,” Ben-Gvir said.
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