US offers Israel intel on Hamas to avoid Rafah op: Report

WASHINGTON

The U.S. has offered to give Israel “sensitive intelligence” on senior Hamas leaders if it agrees to hold off on a long-promised major military operation in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, a report has said.

Quoting four unnamed U.S. officials, the Washington Post reported that recent weeks have seen new proposals aimed at dissuading Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government from occupying Rafah.

These proposals reportedly included sharing sensitive intelligence on Hamas leaders and providing advanced defense capabilities to enable Israel to target Hamas without launching a comprehensive ground assault on Rafah.

The U.S. expressed readiness to share intelligence on Hamas leaders' whereabouts and tunnels with the Israeli military, the report said.

Additionally, the Biden administration suggested infrastructure to set up thousands of tents to accommodate Palestinians displaced from Rafah. However, American officials cautioned that establishing the necessary infrastructure for relocating civilians from Rafah to another location would take months, a view not shared by Israeli officials.

Last week, U.S. President Joe Biden warned Israel that he would halt some arms deliveries if Israel went ahead with a full-scale assault on Rafah.

"If they go into Rafah, I'm not supplying the weapons that have been used... to deal with the cities," Biden said in a televised interview with CNN.

On May 11, Biden also said that a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war was possible as soon as "tomorrow" if the militant group released its hostages.

"There would be a ceasefire tomorrow if Hamas would release the hostages," Biden said at a fundraiser outside Seattle.

"Israel said it's up to Hamas, if they wanted to do it, we could end it tomorrow. And the ceasefire would begin tomorrow," Biden told the crowd of about 100 people.