Representatives from Israel and the U.S. met virtually on Monday for talks on Israel’s planned ground offensive against the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip, the White House confirmed.

“The two sides over the course of two hours had a constructive engagement on Rafah. They agreed that they share the objective to see Hamas defeated in Rafah,’’ the White House said in a statement.

The U.S. also “expressed its concerns with various courses of action in Rafah,’’ the statement added.

Israel had agreed to take these concerns into account, the U.S. said.

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan led the meeting on the US side with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The Israeli side was chaired by National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi and Minster for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer.

The statement added that both sides planned to meet in person early next week.

An Israeli delegation was due to travel to Washington last week to hear U.S. concerns about Israel’s planned ground offensive and to discuss alternatives.

However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled the trip on short notice after the UN Security Council passed a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire without opposition from the U.S.

The U.S. held veto power and abstained from the Security Council vote, enabling the resolution to be adopted.

The 14 other members of the committee voted in favour.

Washington considered a large-scale ground offensive in Rafah to be wrong because more than one million Palestinian civilians had sought shelter from the fighting there and wanted to show Israel alternatives. 

(dpa/NAN)