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Israel Asks US to Reschedule Scrapped Meeting on Rafah Military Plans
US President Joe Biden and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken attend a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as Biden visits Israel amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Oct. 18, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
Israel has asked the White House to reschedule a high-level meeting on military plans for Gaza’s southern city of Rafah that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had abruptly canceled, officials said on Wednesday, in an apparent bid to ease tensions between the two allies.
Netanyahu called off a planned visit to Washington by a senior Israeli delegation after the US allowed passage of a Gaza ceasefire resolution at the United Nations on Monday, marking a new war-time low in his relations with President Joe Biden.
The suspension of this week’s meeting put a new obstacle in the way of efforts by the US, concerned about a deepening humanitarian crisis in Hamas-ruled Gaza, to get Netanyahu to consider alternatives to a ground operation in Rafah, the terror group’s last stronghold in the Palestinian enclave.
On Wednesday, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters: “The prime minister’s office has agreed to reschedule the meeting dedicated” to Rafah.
“So we’re now working with them to set (a) convenient date,” she added.
An Israeli official in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that a new meeting was being arranged and said Netanyahu was considering sending his delegation as early as next week.
There was no immediate comment from Netanyahu’s office.
BID TO RESET WHITE HOUSE MEETING
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant held wide-ranging discussions with senior US officials this week and sought to lower the temperature between the two governments.
Gallant, though not part of Netanyahu’s inner circle, is a key architect of the campaign against Hamas following the terrorist group’s Oct. 7 rampage across Israel in which 1,200 people were murdered and 253 others taken as hostages.
The Israeli team will still be led by Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi, two of Netanyahu’s close confidants, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The talks are expected to focus on Israel‘s threatened offensive in Rafah, where more than a million displaced Palestinians are sheltering.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Wednesday, “We do,” when asked if the US believes a limited military campaign in Rafah can take out remaining commanders of the Palestinian terrorist group.
The White House said last week it intended to share with Israeli officials alternatives for eliminating Hamas’ remaining battalions in Rafah without a full-scale ground invasion that Washington says would be a “disaster.”
The threat of such an offensive has increased differences between close allies the United States and Israel, and raised questions about whether the US might restrict military aid if Netanyahu defies Biden and presses ahead anyway.
Biden, running for re-election in November, faces pressure not just from America’s allies but from a growing number of fellow Democrats to rein in the Israeli military response in Gaza.
Biden’s decision to abstain at the UN, coming after months of mostly adhering to longtime US policy of shielding Israel at the world body, appeared to reflect growing US frustration with the Israeli leader.
Netanyahu issued a stinging rebuke, calling the US move a “clear retreat” from its previous position and would hurt Israel‘s war efforts and negotiations to free more than 130 hostages still held in Gaza.
US officials said at the time that the Biden administration was perplexed by Netanyahu’s decision and considered it an overreaction, insisting there had been no change in policy.
The post Israel Asks US to Reschedule Scrapped Meeting on Rafah Military Plans first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.