Contradicting Netanyahu, Gallant told Austin no date set for Rafah op — source

 Contradicting Netanyahu, Gallant told Austin no date set for Rafah op — source

Defense minister: Israel still finalizing evacuation plans; Sullivan says PM hasn't briefed US on date for offensive, but suggests gap between PM's public and private remarks

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant meets with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in Washington,

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told US counterpart Lloyd Austin during a call on Monday that Israel has not set a date for the launch of a major ground offensive in Rafah, contradicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a source familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel.

Gallant said Israel is still finalizing its plans to evacuate the roughly 1.5 million Palestinians currently sheltering in Gaza’s southernmost city after fleeing the fighting areas to the north, the source said on Tuesday, confirming reporting in Axios and Haaretz.

The call between the US and Israeli defense chiefs took place just hours after Netanyahu claimed in a public video statement that a date had been set for the Rafah operation.

“If he has a date, he hasn’t shared it with us,” US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Tuesday when asked if Jerusalem had briefed Washington on its plans.

The top Biden aide went on to note that Netanyahu “makes public statements [but] also talks to us in private about aspects of operations and their thinking with Rafah in some considerable detail,” indicating that there is often a discrepancy between the two.

Both sides’ readouts from the Gallant-Austin call said the Israeli defense minister updated his Israeli counterpart on the IDF’s latest maneuvering in Gaza, along with future planning.