Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer, said during a podcast interview conducted with American journalist Daniel Senor today, Thursday, that “Israel will control Rafah even if this leads to a rift (in relations) with the United States.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to send Dermer and the head of the National Security Council, Tzachi Hanegbi, to Washington next week, at the request of US President Joe Biden, to present Israeli military plans to invade Rafah to the US administration.

Dermer, one of Netanyahu's closest associates, added, "We are very sure that we can work in Rafah in a way that will be effective, not only from a military standpoint, but also from a humanitarian standpoint. This will happen even if Israel is forced to fight alone and even if the world stands still." "It's all against us, including the United States."

Dermer's statements come as military analyst in the newspaper "Haaretz", Amos Harel, reported today that the Biden administration sent a clear message to Netanyahu, through a member of the war cabinet, Benny Gantz, who visited Washington at the beginning of this month, stating that "the administration will not allow an incursion into Rafah during the month of Ramadan.

In turn, Minister Gideon Sa'ar wrote on the "X" platform that "at this time when the whole world stands against Israel's military operation in Rafah, the time has come when Israel must present the idea of surrender and exile to the military arm of Hamas, as an idea that regulates the end of the war."

Sa'ar considered, "Such a step would, of course, be accompanied by the return of all the kidnapped people. The small possibility of implementing this idea currently should not prevent it from being presented publicly and officially."

It is noteworthy that Sa'ar, who defected from the "National Camp" bloc headed by Gantz, is demanding that Netanyahu include him in the war cabinet, and threatened to withdraw from the government if his request is not met. If Netanyahu responds, expectations are that National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir will demand his inclusion in the war cabinet.