Netanyahu agreed to resend Israeli delegation to US, White House says

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office agreed to reschedule meetings in Washington to discuss alternatives to a full-scale ground invasion in Rafah despite conflicting reports from the Prime Minister's Office, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Peirre said on Wednesday. 

Jean-Pierre said the White House is working to set a date for the rescheduled meetings.

Netanyahu initially said he canceled the Israeli delegation that was meant to meet with senior US officials in DC this week as "a message to Hamas," said Netanyahu in a meeting with US Senator Rick Scott on Wednesday.

Netanyahu canceled the delegation following a US abstention in the UN Security Council that led to the adoption of a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the immediate release of the hostages.

"I thought the US decision in the security council was very, very bad," said Netanyahu in the meeting with Scott.

"It encouraged Hamas to take a hardline and to believe that international pressure will prevent Israel from freeing the hostages and destroying Hamas," he said.

"Therefore, my decision not to send the delegation to Washington in the wake of that resolution, was first and foremost a message to Hamas - don't bet on this pressure to work," he said.

The delegation was set to discuss with US officials the alternative plans for a massive military operation in Rafah and to discuss the hostage deal negotiations.

The most difficult issues involved in the hostage negotiations remain to be resolved but talks are not believed to have come to an end, a State Department spokesperson said Wednesday, after Hamas rejected an American compromise proposal late Monday night.

"By nature of these types of negotiations, when you get down to the end, when you make progress, the issues that remain are often the hardest ones. You don't usually solve the hardest issues first, you solve them last,"  Spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

However, Miller wouldn't confirm "any particular conversations" that are still ongoing.

"We believe that there is an ability to continue to pursue the release of hostages and that's what we're going to continue to do," Miller said.

Netanyahu meets with bipartisan delegation of congress people from AIPAC

Netanyahu met on Wednesday with a bipartisan delegation of congress people from AIPAC, his office reported.

Netanyahu said that US support during the Israel-Hamas war is important and deeply appreciated by Israel and that Netanyahu and US President Biden are open about their disagreements when it comes to an operation in Rafah.

Talk of the difficulty in protecting civilians during a large-scale incursion into Rafah is becoming "almost mass hysteria," Netanyahu told the delegation, saying that civilians in Rafah can go to other parts of the Gaza strip and that they will be supplied with aid there.

Netanyahu also touched on Iran, telling the delegation that Iran officially moved from an ideological position of wanting to destroy Israel to a practical plan to destroy the state around a week ago.  

"The formal policy is to shift from an ideological position of destroying Israel to a practical long-term plan to bring about the destruction of the state," said Netanyahu.

Israeli government spokesperson Avi Hyman said on Wednesday that the US abstention in the vote on the UN Security Council resolution that passed Monday represented a change in the US position because it did not link a hostage deal with a ceasefire, which previous resolutions had.

Hyman echoed the prime minister, saying that the resolution sent a message to Hamas that they will be able to achieve a ceasefire without the release of the hostages.

No one will force Israel into a ceasefire, Hyman added, quoting Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and stating that this is the official position of the Israeli government. "We have no choice. If the US decides not to back us now, we will have to finish the job," he said, still quoting Dermer.

When asked if the canceled delegation will be rescheduled, Hyman did not answer but said that conversations between Israeli officials and their US counterparts are ongoing, again referring to remarks made by Dermer in the media on Tuesday.

There were conflicting reports about the delegation being rescheduled Wednesday night. NBC reported that senior US officials said Israel reached out to reschedule the delegation. The Prime Minister's Office said Wednesday night that Netanyahu has not approved the delegation.

US Senator Lindsey Graham also met with Netanyahu, who thanked him for his consistent support. Graham said that it was his fifth visit to Israel since October 7. "I have your back and your country's back," Graham told Netanyahu in a meeting, the video of which was posted on X Tuesday.

"It's ok to have disagreements among allies and among friends, and that happens on occasion," Graham said, adding that the destruction of Hamas is non-negotiable "for the civilized world."

"Here is my advice to you and your country: Get on with it," said Graham, who also called the idea that Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war "a form of blood libel."

Netanyahu will meet with the parents of soldiers held hostage by Hamas on Thursday, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum announced Wednesday. The parents will demand answers from the PM on how he intends to bring their children home, according to the forum.

Families of hostages spoke at the UN's Human Rights Council in Geneva, in the first time hostage families spoke at an official UN assembly, the forum announced Wednesday.

Yarden Gonen, sister of Romi Gonen, who is held hostage, spoke at the assembly, saying that her sister and 18 other young women are being held by "those who committed all those horrifying acts on the 7th of October.

"They are being used as slaves, dressed as dolls. They are suffering sexual abuse. they are being used."

Ella Ben Ami, daughter of Ohad Ben Ami, who is being held hostage, asked the members of the Human Rights Council what they had done to return her father to her mother (who was also held hostage and released after 54 days). "What have you done to unite all the hostages with their families?" she asked. 

"We can't miss the fact that there's an agreement to have a meeting here to discuss the Rafah operation. We're going to set this date in the upcoming days to have this meeting," Jean-Pierre said. We're going to share our side, they're going to share their side, and that's what you do. That's what diplomacy is about."

Jean-Pierre again rejected the idea that the abstention from Monday's UNSC vote indicates a change in messaging or policy. 

The White House and the State Department continued to face scrutiny on Wednesday over their explanation of the non-binding nature of the resolution and the significance of the decision not to vote. 

Hannah Sarisohn and Tovah Lazaroff contributed to this report.