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Israel Team to Visit US Over Biden Concerns on Rafah, Gaza ‘Anarchy’
US President Joe Biden, left, pauses during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, to discuss the war between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Oct. 18, 2023. Photo: Miriam Alster/Pool via REUTERS
US President Joe Biden warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday that an Israeli military operation in Rafah would deepen anarchy in Gaza and they agreed that teams from each side would meet in Washington to discuss it, the White House said.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters the two countries would have a comprehensive discussion on the way forward in Gaza, where Israel has been fighting the Hamas terrorist group in the Palestinian enclave for over five months.
The meeting could happen this week or next, Sullivan said, and no Rafah operation would proceed before the talks.
“Anarchy reigns in areas that Israel‘s military has cleared, but not stabilized” in Gaza and a humanitarian crisis would deepen if Israel were to go ahead with an offensive in Rafah, Sullivan said, summarizing Biden’s message to Netanyahu.
“We’ve had many discussions in many different levels between our military, our intelligence, our diplomats, our humanitarian experts, but we have not yet had the opportunity to have an all-encompassing comprehensive, integrated, strategic discussion,” he said.
The two leaders have had increasingly tense relations over Gaza. Sullivan described the conversation as “businesslike” and said it did not end abruptly. Biden did not threaten to limit US aid to Israel, he said.
Biden told Netanyahu that he needs a coherent strategy for Gaza, Sullivan said, “rather than Israel go smashing into Rafah,” the last Hamas stronghold in the coastal enclave. He reiterated US support for the Israeli effort to destroy Hamas terrorists who attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, murdering 1,200 people and kidnapping 253 others as hostages. The surprise invasion launched the current war in Hamas-ruled Gaza, from which the terror group launched the massacre.
Sullivan also confirmed that Marwan Issa, the No. 3 leader within Hamas’ ranks, was killed in an Israeli operation last week. Hamas has not commented.
The call was the first between the two leaders since Feb. 15 and comes amid sharp tensions between Israel and its most steadfast ally over Netanyahu’s handling of the war in Gaza.
Netanyahu said the two men discussed Israel‘s commitment to achieve all the targets it had set out for the war: eliminating Hamas, releasing all the hostages, and ensuring Gaza would no longer pose a threat to Israel.
This would be done “while providing the necessary humanitarian aid that helps achieve those goals,” he said in a statement.
In a speech on Thursday, Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer, a longtime supporter of Israel and the highest-ranking Jewish elected official, called for new elections in Israel and said Netanyahu was an obstacle to peace.
Biden praised the speech the following day and said that Schumer, a fellow Democrat, had echoed the concerns of many Americans.
Netanyahu responded harshly on Sunday, telling CNN in an interview that Schumer’s speech was “totally inappropriate.”
Netanyahu reaffirmed to a cabinet meeting on Sunday that Israeli forces would go into Rafah, despite international pressure for Israel to avoid further civilian casualties.
The post Israel Team to Visit US Over Biden Concerns on Rafah, Gaza ‘Anarchy’ 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.