By Jarrett Renshaw and Moira Warburton
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Biden administration told Israel to take every precaution to protect civilians after a military strike in Rafah killed dozens of Palestinians, while facing calls from some fellow Democrats to halt military deployments to Israel.
“Israel has the right to go after Hamas, and we understand that this attack killed two senior Hamas terrorists who are responsible for attacks against Israeli civilians,” said a National Security Council spokesperson. “But as we have already made clear, Israel must take all possible precautions to protect civilians.
Biden has faced growing pressure from within his own party to reduce support for Israel, even before the Sunday night airstrike that torched tents and flimsy metal shelters in a Rafah camp, killing 45 people.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a prominent Democratic lawmaker in the House of Representatives, on Monday called the strike “an indefensible atrocity,” adding in a social media post that “it is past time for the President to keep his word and suspend military aid .”
“Horrible, heartbreaking images coming from Rafah last night,” Rep. Ayanna Pressley said in a social media post. “How much longer will the US stand by while the Israeli military massacres and mutilates Palestinian babies?”
Representative Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American serving in Congress, called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “genocidal maniac.”
Netanyahu said on Monday that the attack was not intended to cause civilian casualties but had gone “tragically wrong.”
The NSC spokesperson said the US government was “actively engaging” with the Israeli military and others on the ground to assess what happened.
Nearly half of Democratic voters disapprove of Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war, according to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll.
Weeks of campus protests over the war have increased pressure, and broader demands for a permanent ceasefire have put Biden’s re-election campaign on the defensive.
(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw and Moira Warburton; writing by Doina Chiacu; editing by Andrea Ricci and Stephen Coates)
