An Israeli political official said that the goal of US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken's visit to Israel today, Friday, is to convince Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a safe passage for displaced Palestinians to return to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip, according to what was reported by the Ynet website. .

According to Ynet, it is not a coincidence that Blinken arrived in Israel before the head of the Mossad, David Barnea, traveled to Qatar in order to continue negotiations on a ceasefire and the Israel exchange deal between Israel and the Hamas movement.

Barnea attended the Israeli war cabinet meeting in which Blinken participated. Shin Bet head Ronen Bar will accompany Barnea to Doha, after Bar had missed the previous Doha meeting, last Monday.

Blinken met with Netanyahu alone at the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv for about an hour, before the war cabinet meeting. Ynet reported that Blinken put pressure on Netanyahu regarding a plan to invade Rafah, but Netanyahu repeated the talk about the “importance” of invading Rafah “on the way to eliminating Hamas.”

Netanyahu told Blinken, according to a statement issued by his office, that “I value the fact that we stand together in the war against Hamas. I also told him that we know the necessity of evacuating the civilian population from war zones and of course taking care of humanitarian needs, and that is how we work there.”

Netanyahu added: “But I also said that we have no way to defeat Hamas without entering Rafah and eliminating the remnants of the Phalange there. I told him that I hope we will implement this with the support of the United States, but if we have to, we will implement it alone.”

During his current visit, the seventh to Israel since the beginning of the war on Gaza, Blinken discussed with officials in Israel a prisoner exchange deal and the normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and he said that this normalization is still on the table.

Blinken will meet with the families of hostages being held in Gaza before leaving Israel.

Blinken's visit to Israel comes at the height of tension in relations between the Biden administration and the Netanyahu government, as well as between them personally. Blinken's visit also comes hours before the UN Security Council votes on a draft US resolution, the wording of which has been tightened and calls for an immediate end to the war on Gaza.