Israel’s Security Cabinet Votes to Expand Rafah Operation, Keep Talks Going

Israel’s security cabinet voted Friday to expand the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) operation in Rafah, albeit on a limited scale, and to continue talks with mediators in Egypt in the hope of reaching a hostage release deal with Hamas.

The vote was interpreted as a rebuke of the Biden administration, in the wake of this week’s admission by the president that the U.S. is withholding bombs and artillery from Israel in protest of its decision to attack Hamas in Rafah.

The security cabinet is one level above the war cabinet, which deals with more immediate military decisions.

The Times of Israel reported:

The security cabinet voted last night to approve the expansion of the IDF’s operation in Rafah, Hebrew media reports.

The expansion is deemed as measured in what Israel hopes will not cross the line into what the US deems as a “major operation.”

US President Joe Biden warned earlier this week that he would halt certain offensive weapons shipments to Israel if it entered into the population centers of Rafah due to concerns over the one million-plus civilians sheltering there.

Axios.com added that “the cabinet also instructed the Israeli team negotiating indirect talks for a hostage and ceasefire deal to continue efforts to reach a deal and try to formulate a new initiative that would lead to a breakthrough.”

Rafah is the last stronghold of Hamas in Gaza, and Israel believes it must destroy Hamas’s remaining four battalions in Rafah to prevent Hamas from returning to power in the Gaza Strip and attacking Israeli communities once again.

The U.S. has expressed concern over the impact of an expanded Rafah operation on humanitarian conditions. On Friday, the IDF said it had allowed 200,000 liters of fuel to enter Gaza for distribution by international aid groups.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.