The administration of US President Joe Biden sent a clear message to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, through war cabinet member Benny Gantz, who visited Washington at the beginning of this month, stating that “the administration will not allow an Israeli incursion into Rafah during the month of Ramadan,” according to a report by the military analyst in the newspaper "Haaretz", Amos Harel, today, Thursday.

He added that Netanyahu's decision to send a delegation to Washington next week, at the request of Biden, in order to present the Israeli plan to invade Rafah, reflects the real situation of US-Israeli relations in the middle of the sixth month of the war on Gaza.

Netanyahu threatens on a daily basis to invade Rafah, pledges an “absolute victory” over Hamas, and boasts of the “independence of the Israeli decision,” despite the tense relations between him and Biden.

Harel pointed out, “In actual terms, the idea that Israel will defend itself with its own forces has been in great doubt since the October 7 attack. Biden is presenting Netanyahu with challenges from all directions: by airdropping aid into Gaza, building a naval pier, and a certain slowdown in the pace of the supply of ammunition from the United States to Israel as well as through increased and more public American opposition to a military operation in Rafah.”

According to the report, Israeli preparations for an invasion of Rafah are taking place slowly, despite presenting its military plans to Netanyahu, who announced that he had approved them.

He added that the change in the Biden administration's policy towards Israel occurred at the end of last month, in the wake of the Rashid Street massacre, which claimed the lives of more than 115 Palestinian who were waiting for humanitarian aid. "Then Biden lost his patience, and since then bad news and insults against Netanyahu from the United States began on a daily basis."

He continued that the most prominent expression of this was issued in Washington through the announcement of the leader of the Democratic majority in the US Senate, Chuck Schumer, last week, in which he described Netanyahu as an obstacle to peace and called for new elections in Israel, while Biden described his statements as a “good speech.”

Harel described the recent American steps and statements as meaning that “the United States has given itself increased powers over Israel’s security, by insisting on the right of veto against the operations of the Israeli army.”

However, indications of this appeared at the beginning of the war, when Biden warned Iran and Israel against opening a front between them with the participation of Hezbollah, as well as through the participation of administration officials in the Israeli war cabinet meetings, during which detailed deliberations on military plans took place. “Since then, Israeli attachment to the United States has only increased, reaching a worrying degree,” according to Harel.

He added that the statements in the United States and the European Union against the invasion of Rafah "very narrow the scope of Israeli capabilities. It is possible that Netanyahu will try to cling to the obstacles placed by Biden in order to explain the reason for the delay in the invasion of Rafah."