Biden warns Netanyahu against major Rafah offensive as divide between the 2 leaders grows

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Monday urgently warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against launching an offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah as the divide between the two leaders continues to grow along with the mounting Palestinian death toll.

The call between Biden and Netanyahu came as Israel appeared to be moving closer to a major military operation to root out Hamas militants in Rafah — something that Biden and his top aides have repeatedly told Israeli officials will only lead to more death and worsen the despair in the war-ravaged territory.

Both leaders are facing growing public pressure — Biden from protests on college campuses and Netanyahu from the families of some Israeli hostages — for a cease-fire deal.

“The president doesn’t want to see operations in Rafah that put at greater risk the more than a million people that are seeking refuge there,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said.

The White House described the leaders' 30-minute conversation as “constructive." Privately, however, administration officials' concern was mounting as Israel on Monday ordered about 100,000 Palestinians to evacuate from Rafah and began carrying out “targeted” strikes in the eastern part of the city.

White House officials were carefully watching the unfolding, intensified Israeli action in Rafah with deep worry, but did not believe it amounted to the widescale attack Netanyahu has been threatening, according to a person familiar with administration thinking who was not authorized to comment publicly.

More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war that started after Hamas launched an attack on Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200. Some 250 people were also taken hostage in the brazen attack.

Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation is rapidly deteriorating in huge swaths of Gaza. The head of the United Nations World Food Program, Cindy McCain, said Sunday that northern Gaza has entered “full-blown famine” after nearly seven months of war.

Ahead of the leaders' call, Israel announced it was ordering Palestinians to begin evacuating from Rafah. Soon after the order, Hamas said in a statement it has accepted an Egyptian-Qatari proposal for a cease-fire.

Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Israel would continue its operations in Gaza as officials deliberate the cease-fire proposal approved by Hamas. And the Israeli War Cabinet voted unanimously to approve a Rafah military operation but said it would continue cease-fire efforts.

The new targeted strikes in eastern Rafah appeared aimed at keeping the pressure on Hamas as talks continue.

Kirby said Biden had been briefed on Hamas' response that it would accept a hostage deal. CIA Director William Burns, who was in Qatar for hostage talks with regional officials, was discussing the Hamas statement with allies in the region. Kirby declined to discuss the parameters of what Hamas is saying it has agreed to.

“Bill Burns is looking at that response. He’s talking to the Israelis about it," Kirby told reporters. “And we’ll see where this goes. Hopefully, it can lead to those hostages getting out real, real soon.”

In recent days, Egyptian and Hamas officials have said the cease-fire would take place in a series of stages during which Hamas would release hostages it is holding in exchange for Israeli troop pullbacks from Gaza.

Biden also told Netanyahu he still believes reaching a cease-fire with Hamas is the best way to protect the lives of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, officials said. Israel says Hamas is holding about 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others in Gaza. The leaders' call occurred before Hamas announced it had accepted a cease-fire proposal.

Following his call with Netanyahu, Biden hosted King Abdullah II of Jordan for a private lunch meeting at the White House for talks on the war and hostage talks. Jordan's embassy in Washington said in a posting on the social media site X after the meeting that Abdullah warned that an Israeli operation on Rafah “threatens to lead to a new massacre.”

On Sunday, Netanyahu rejected international pressure to halt the war in Gaza in a fiery speech marking the country’s annual Holocaust memorial day, declaring, “If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone.”

“I say to the leaders of the world: No amount of pressure, no decision by any international forum will stop Israel from defending itself,” he said, speaking in English. “Never again is now.”

In their phone call, Netanyahu told Biden he would ensure the Kerem Shalom crossing between Gaza and Israel would remain open for humanitarian aid deliveries, according to the White House.

Israeli officials last week briefed Biden administration officials on a plan to evacuate Palestinian civilians ahead of a potential operation, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had previously stressed with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant that Israel needed a “credible plan” to evacuate those civilians and maintain humanitarian aid. Ryder said Austin had seen “the concepts” from the Israelis on their plan for an operation in Rafah “but nothing detailed at this point.”

AP writers Tara Copp in Washington and Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed reporting.

National security communications advisor John Kirby speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Monday, May 6, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

This combination photo shows President Joe Biden, left, on March 8, 2024, in Wallingford, Pa., and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, Israel, Oct. 28, 2023. Biden and Netanyahu spoke Monday, May 6, 2024, a White House official and National Security Council spokesperson said, as Israel appeared closer to launching an offensive on the southern Gaza city of Rafah. That move is staunchly opposed by the U.S. on humanitarian grounds. (AP Photo)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, front, attends a wreath-laying ceremony marking Holocaust Remembrance Day in the Hall of Remembrance at Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Centre, in Jerusalem, Israel, Monday, May 6, 2024. (Amir Cohen/Pool Photo via AP)

President Joe Biden speaks during a State Dinner at the White House in Washington, Thursday, May 2, 2024, to honor the 2024 National Teacher of the Year and other teachers from across the United States. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

President Joe Biden speaks at the Wilmington Convention Center, Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Wilmington, N.C., as he announces his administration is providing states an additional $3 billion to replace lead pipes across the country. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

JACUMÉ, México (AP) — Near the towering border wall flanked by a U.S. Border Patrol vehicle, botanist Sula Vanderplank heard a quail in the scrub yelp “chi-ca-go,” a sound the birds use to signal they are separated from a mate or group.

Then silence.

A quail on the Mexican side called back, triggering a back-and-forth soundtrack that was both fitting and heartbreaking in an ecosystem split by an artificial barrier.

Vanderplank was among several botanists and citizen scientists participating in the Border Bioblitz near the Mexican community of Jacumé, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) east of Tijuana.

Roughly 1,000 volunteers armed with the iNaturalist app on their smartphones are documenting as many species as possible along the U.S.-Mexico border in May. Uploading photos to the app helps identify plants and animals, and records the coordinates of the location.

The hope is the information could lead to more protections for the region's natural richness, which is overshadowed by news of drug trafficking and migrant smuggling.

On a recent day, Bioblitz volunteers scrutinized a bright yellow blooming carpet of common Goldfields, a sharp contrast to the imposing steel bollards of the border wall topped with rolls of razor wire. Some navigated their way around piles of empty water jugs, a gray hoodie and empty cans of tuna fish left under the branches of native flora like the Tecate Cypress.

“There’s a fabulous amount of biodiversity here that’s traditionally been overlooked,” Vanderplank, of the binational program Baja Rare, said.

The efforts started in response to former President Donald Trump adding hundreds of miles of border walls that toppled untold numbers of saguaro cactuses in Arizona and passed through the biodiversity hotspot of Baja California.

“When the border wall construction began, we realized how little hard data we had, especially when it came to plants and small organisms,” Vanderplank said. “We don’t know what all we could lose.”

Since then, there has been a groundswell of initiatives to document the borderland’s flora and fauna as climate change coupled with habitat loss, pollution and development have hammered the world’s biodiversity. One estimate in 2019 warns that a million plant and animal species face extinction within decades, a rate of loss 1,000 times greater than expected.

The United Nations is expected hold a high-level meeting in Colombia of signatories to the Convention on Biological Diversity in October aiming to protect 30% of land, freshwater and oceans considered important for biodiversity by 2030, known as 30 by 30. Representatives from nearly 200 countries are expected to present plans on how they will meet conservation targets agreed upon in 2022.

Currently, 17% of terrestrial and 10% of marine areas are protected.

Baja California peninsula, which borders California and is home to Tijuana with one of Mexico's highest homicide rates, has more than 4,000 species of plants. A quarter of them are endemic and at least 400 plants are considered rare with little to no protection.

Flora and fauna that have gone extinct or are in danger of disappearing in the U.S., like the California red-legged frog, are thriving south of the border, producing specimens that are being used to bring back populations.

But the region’s crime deters many U.S. scientists from crossing the border. Mexico also is restricting permits for botanists and not allowing seeds to be collected, further curtailing the work, scientists say.

Bioblitz organizers work with local communities and say they take people only to areas deemed safe.

“You have to be really careful because of the violence,” said Jon Rebman, a curator of botany at the San Diego Natural History Museum, who has named 33 new plants for science from the southern California and Baja California region.

“It’s scary from that standpoint, yet those are the areas where we really need more information because there’s hardly any protected area on the south side,” he said.

Using the museum’s collection, Rebman made a list of 15 plant species endemic to Baja California and not seen since being collected nearly a century ago. He created a binational team to find them. So far, they have located 11.

Rebman also discovered two new plants to science in 2021 in a canyon off a Tijuana highway: the new species, Astragalus tijuanensis, and a new variety of the Astragalus brauntonii named lativexillum.

“I was worried they would go extinct before we even got them named,” Rebman said. “That tells you what type of area we’re working in.”

Tijuana-based botanist Mariana Fernandez of Expediciones Botánicas periodically checks on the plants. Working with Rebman, she is pushing Baja California to adopt more protections for its native plants. Currently only a fraction are on Mexico’s federal protection list.

She hopes the state will step in, while she also tries to build support by taking Tijuana residents and Baja officials on hikes.

“People are amazed that these things exist in Tijuana, and I hope to show more and more people so they can see the beauty, because we need that,” Fernandez said. “It’s important to not be impeded by the barriers that humans create.”

As border security increases with the number of people being displaced by natural disasters, violence and wars at record levels worldwide, more migrants are traipsing out to areas like the stretch near Jacumé. The tiny community of about 100 families includes members of the Kumeyaay tribe and sits across the border from an equally sparsely populated desert near the California town of Jacumba Hot Springs. Population: about 1,000.

The area has seen thousands of asylum seekers who wait for an opportunity to cross, usually in the cloak of darkness, and then camp again on the U.S. side after turning themselves in to U.S. Border Patrol agents.

Fernandez was among the botanists helping Bioblitz volunteers on the Mexican side near a crumbling crossing station from the 1920s.

“I never would have thought that there would be so much biodiversity on the border,” said Jocelyn Reyes, a student of Fernandez at La Universidad Autónoma de Baja California who stopped every few feet to hover over a plant and photograph its details. “It’s so interesting and makes you realize there’s so much worth saving.”

A California Horned Lizard is temporary held for classification during a botanical expedition with Universidad Autonoma de Baja California college students documenting native plants and species along the U.S.-Mexico border on Friday, April 19, 2024, in the Ejido Jacume in the Tecate Municipality of Baja California, Mexico. Botanists and citizen scientists armed with the iNaturalist app on their smartphones are recording the biodiversity along the U.S.-Mexico border in May. Called the Border Bioblitz, more than 1,000 volunteers are recording as many species as possible. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Horses walk close to the US Mexico border Friday, April 19, 2024, in the Ejido Jacume in the Tecate Municipality of Baja California, Mexico. Botanists and citizen scientists armed with the iNaturalist app on their smartphones are recording the biodiversity along the U.S.-Mexico border in May. Called the Border Bioblitz, more than 1,000 volunteers are recording as many species as possible. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Dr. Georges Seingier, Prof. Marine and Environmental Sciences at Baja California Autonomous University joins a botanical expedition with Universidad Autonoma de Baja California college students to document native plants along the U.S.- Mexico border on Friday, April 19, 2024, in the Ejido Jacume in the Tecate Municipality of Baja California, Mexico. The group near the Mexican community of Jacume, about (60 miles) 100 kilometers east of Tijuana, is one of several participating in the Border Bioblitz in which more than 1,000 volunteers throughout May record as many species as possible along the U.S.-Mexico border, a region plagued by drug trafficking and migrant smuggling that have overshadowed its natural richness. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

College students, members of Baja California's conservation organization Baja Rare, lead a botanical expedition to document native plants along the U.S.-Mexico border on Friday, April 19, 2024, in the Ejido Jacume in the Tecate municipality of Baja Calif., Mexico. The Baja California peninsula, which borders California and is home to Tijuana, one of the deadliest cities in the world, has more than 4,000 species of plants. According to scientists, a quarter of them are not found anywhere else, and some 200 plants are considered rare with little to no protection. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

A college student joins members of the California's Baja Rare conservation project leading a botanical expedition to document native plants along the U.S.- Mexico border on Friday, April 19, 2024, in the Ejido Jacume in the Tecate Municipality of Baja Calif., Mexico. Since then there has been a groundswell of initiatives to document the borderland's flora and fauna as climate change coupled with habitat loss, pollution and development have hammered the world's biodiversity, with one estimate in 2019 warning that a million plant and animal species face extinction within decades, a rate of loss 1,000 times greater than expected. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Dr. Georges Seingier, Prof. Marine and Environmental Sciences at Baja California Autonomous University leads a botanical expedition with Universidad Autonoma de Baja California botanists and citizen scientists to document native plants along the U.S.- Mexico border on Friday, April 19, 2024, in the Ejido Jacume in the Tecate Municipality of Baja California, Mexico. Since then there has been a groundswell of initiatives to document the borderland's flora and fauna as climate change coupled with habitat loss, pollution and development have hammered the world's biodiversity, with one estimate in 2019 warning that a million plant and animal species face extinction within decades, a rate of loss 1,000 times greater than expected. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Members of the Baja California's conservation Baja Rare project lead a botanical expedition with college students to document native plants along the U.S.-Mexico border on Friday, April 19, 2024, in the Ejido Jacume in the Tecate Municipality of Baja Calif., Mexico. The group near the Mexican community of Jacume, about (60 miles) 100 kilometers east of Tijuana, is one of several participating in the Border Bioblitz in which more than 1,000 volunteers throughout May record as many species as possible along the U.S.-Mexico border, a region plagued by drug trafficking and migrant smuggling that has overshadowed its natural richness. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Lichen grows on native tree branches along the US-Mexico border on Friday, April 19, 2024, in the Ejido Jacume in the Tecate Municipality of Baja California, Mexico. Botanists and citizen scientists armed with the mobile cellphone iNaturalist app are recording the biodiversity along the U.S.-Mexico border in May. The Border Bioblitz has more than 1,000 volunteers recording as many species as possible. Flora and fauna that have gone extinct or are in danger of disappearing in the U.S. have been found to be thriving in remote spots south of the border, producing specimens that can then be used to bring back populations, scientists say. But the region's crime has deterred many U.S. scientists from crossing the border. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Botanists and citizen scientists armed with the iNaturalist app on their smartphones record the biodiversity along the U.S.-Mexico border as bright yellow blooms carpet the ground, a sharp contrast to the imposing steel bollards of the border wall topped with rolls of razor wire as members of the California's Baja Rare project lead a botanical expedition with college students to document native plants along the US Mexico border on Friday, April 19, 2024, in the Ejido Jacume in the Tecate Municipality of Baja Calif., Mexico. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Tijuana-based field botanist Mariana Fernandez of Expediciones Botanicas leads a botanical expedition with college students to document native plants along the U.S.- Mexico border on Friday, April 19, 2024, in the Ejido Jacume in the Tecate Municipality of Baja California, Mexico. Flora and fauna that have gone extinct or are in danger of disappearing in the U.S. have been found to be thriving in remote spots south of the border, producing specimens that can then be used to bring back populations, scientists say. But the region's crime has deterred many U.S. scientists from crossing the border. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Botanists and citizen scientists armed with the iNaturalist app on their smartphones record the biodiversity along the U.S.-Mexico border as bright yellow blooms carpet the ground, a sharp contrast to the imposing steel bollards of the border wall topped with rolls of razor wire along the US Mexico border on Friday, April 19, 2024, near Botanists and citizen scientists armed with the iNaturalist app on their smartphones record the biodiversity along the U.S.-Mexico border as bright yellow blooms carpet the ground, a sharp contrast to the imposing steel bollards of the border wall topped with rolls of razor wire as members of the California's Baja Rare project lead a botanical expedition with college students to document native plants along the US Mexico border on Friday, April 19, 2024, near the Ejido Jacume in the Tecate Municipality of Baja Calif., Mexico. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Bright yellow blooms carpet the ground, a sharp contrast to the imposing steel bollards of the border wall topped with rolls of razor wire as members of the California's Baja Rare conservation project lead a botanical expedition with botanists and citizen scientists to document native plants along the U.S.- Mexico border on Friday, April 19, 2024, in the Ejido Jacume in the Tecate Municipality of Baja Calif., Mexico. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)