Israel to send team to US for discussions as Biden warns against Rafah operation

The UN has warned Gaza is weeks away from famine, ITV News Correspondent Dan Rivers reports

Israel has agreed to send a team to Washington to discuss their planned Rafah operation as US President Joe Biden's administration warned the planned offensive would be a "mistake".

Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on the phone on Monday amid growing tensions between the two countries over the plans for Rafah, where about 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering, as the food crisis in Gaza continues.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Biden questioned the Israeli leader over a lack of a "coherent and sustainable strategy" to defeat Hamas.

Speaking after the phone call Mr Sullivan told reporters: "Our position is that Hamas should not be allowed a safe haven in Rafah or anywhere else, but a major ground operation there would be a mistake."

Biden administration officials have previously warned that they would not support such an operation without the Israelis presenting a credible plan to ensure the safety of innocent Palestinian civilians - something they say Netanyahu's government has not done.

The call comes after Republicans in Washington and Israeli officials were quick to express outrage after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer sharply criticised Netanyahu’s handling of the war in Gaza and called for Israel to hold new elections.

They accused the Democratic leader of breaking the unwritten rule against interfering in a close ally’s electoral politics.

While the president has not endorsed Schumer's call for an election he praised the speech and said it reflected the concerns of many Americans.

The World Food Program warned that “famine is imminent” in northern Gaza, where 70% of the remaining population is experiencing catastrophic hunger, and that a further escalation of the war could push around half of Gaza’s population to the brink of starvation.

Netanyahu lashed out against criticism from the US on Sunday, describing calls for a new election as "wholly inappropriate."

Netanyahu told Fox News that Israel never would have called for a new US election after the 9/11 attacks, and he denounced Schumer’s comments as inappropriate.

"We’re not a banana republic," he said. "The people of Israel will choose when they will have elections, and who they’ll elect, and it’s not something that will be foisted on us."

Biden's frustration with Netanyahu’s prosecution of the war has been on public display in recent weeks.

He told MSNBC recently that Netanyahu "has a right to defend Israel, a right to continue to pursue Hamas.

"But he must, he must, he must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost as a consequence of the actions taken. He’s hurting ... in my view, he’s hurting Israel more than helping Israel."

The president has recently said the US military would help establish a temporary pier aimed at boosting the amount of aid getting into the territory.

The US military has also been air-dropping aid into Gaza.

The Biden administration resorted to the unusual workarounds after months of appealing to Israel, a top recipient of military aid, to step up access and protection for trucks bearing humanitarian goods for Gaza.

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