White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan reiterated his position against Israel on the 19th (local time) against a large-scale attack on Rafah, Gaza Strip. The White House reported in a press release that Sullivan met with Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and held a Strategic Consultative Group (SCG) meeting with Israel.
At the SCG, Advisor Sullivan discussed with Israel ways to defeat Hamas while minimizing civilian casualties and reaffirmed President Joe Biden’s long-standing position on Rafah. He also reaffirmed the need for Israel to link its military operations with political strategy. Previously, President Biden has repeatedly expressed his opposition to a large-scale military attack on Rafah, where 1 million Palestinians are sheltering.
Sullivan also proposed a series of concrete steps for Israel to send more aid to Gaza through all possible channels, the White House said. He also discussed measures to establish mechanisms to ensure the safety of Gaza activists and fixed channels for humanitarian assistance in Gaza, respectively. Previously, Aide Sullivan met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi de facto leader, in Saudi Arabia the day before and discussed the issue of concluding a mutual defence treaty.
The Saudi state-run SPA news agency reported the previous day that the two sides discussed the ‘just before finalization’ stage of the draft defence treaty. The White House said that Sullivan briefed Prime Minister Netanyahu and others on the “potential that could be helpful not only to Israel but also to the Palestinian people.” In this regard, CBS reported, citing sources, that the United States and Saudi Arabia are expected to complete the agreement within a few days.
The United States is pursuing the normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia as part of the Middle East peace plan, including the Palestinian issue, and Saudi Arabia has requested that the United States sign a defence treaty as a condition for normalizing relations.