Blinken: Need To See Plan For Rafah, Biden: Schumer Made 'Good Speech'

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has been speaking in Vienna, Austria on the latest developments in the Israel-Hamas war. In response to reportsthat Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has approved a plan for a 'military operation' in the southern Gazan city of Rafah, Blinken says that the US would need to see a "clear and implementable" plan for such an operation and that the US had not seen one yet.

• Regarding the prospect of indirect Israel-Hamas talks resuming in Doha Blinken says the US is working extensively with Egypt, Qatar and Israel 'to bridge the remaining gaps for [a] hostage deal'. Adds that 'conversations are happening right now'. Says that Israel sending a negotiating team 'reflects the possibility and urgency of an agreement', and that the US 'will work as long and hard as it takes to get it done.'
• Separately, US President Joe Biden has said that Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) made "a good speech", adding that "He expressed serious concerns, shared not only by him but by many Americans". Biden confirmed that Schumer had alerted the president's staff to the content in the speech in advance, implying at least the tacit, if not implicit, endorsement of the White House.
• Schumer's speech, in which he called for fresh elections in Israel and said the country risked becoming an international 'pariah', resulted in a significant pushback from Israeli gov't officials and Congressional Republicans.