Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is heading to Washington on Sunday, at a time of increasingly strained relations with Israel’s main military backer and ally, as it continues to defy U.S. calls to reduce the suffering in Gaza.
Gallant is set to meet with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, national security adviser Jake Sullivan and other senior officials, the Israeli government said in a statement.
Gallant’s visit, which the Israeli government said was at Austin’s invitation, comes after Blinken and Israeli leaders confronted one another over the trajectory of the war on Friday, as the top U.S. diplomat called on Israel not to invade the crowded city of Rafah, where more than a million displaced Palestinians are sheltering.
Sullivan also told reporters last week that Netanyahu agreed to a request by President Biden to send a delegation to Washington “to hear U.S. concerns about Israel’s current Rafah planning and to lay out an alternative approach.” Last week, the Israeli prime minister’s office said that Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and the head of the National Security Council, Tzachi Hanegbi, would visit the United States to discuss Rafah, along with representatives from COGAT, the Israeli defense agency in charge of Palestinian civil affairs. A spokesperson for Gallant confirmed Sunday that his visit to Washington was separate from that delegation’s.
Lior Soroka contributed to this report.