The Washington Post reports that the Biden administration has offered Israel "valuable assistance," including "sensitive intelligence to help the Israeli military pinpoint the location of Hamas leaders and find the group's hidden tunnels" if it agrees not to invade Rafah.
The US also offered Israel assistance in building tent cities and construction of delivery systems for food, water, and medicine so that Palestinians evacuated from Rafah can have a habitable place to live.
The Washington Post states that this proposal was made during recent negotiations in Jerusalem. According to WP sources, US representatives offer this kind of assistance in exchange for Israeli restraint for several weeks.
US administration representatives, including experts from the US Agency for International Development, told Israelis that it would take several months to safely relocate hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who currently live in "decrepit and unsanitary conditions" conditions in Rafah. Israeli officials disagreed with that assessment.
Israeli leaders argue that the IDF must "complete the job of eliminating Hamas." But the destruction of the extensive tunnel network in Rafah, where many Hamas leaders and fighters are located, will endanger tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians, WP writes.
