The White House indicated Tuesday that an Israeli attack that killed dozens of Palestinians in Rafah did not cross the “red line” that would lead to a change in U.S. policy.
Several government officials at press conferences on Tuesday described the images of Rafah as “heartbreaking,” “tragic” and “horrific.” But there was no sign of an imminent political change because it was an air strike rather than a major ground operation.
“We still do not believe that a major ground operation in Rafah is justified. We still don’t want to see the Israelis, as we say, attack Rafah with large units over large swaths of territory. We still believe that and we haven’t seen that yet,” White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
“As a result of this Sunday strike, I have no policy changes to talk about,” he added. “It just happened. The Israelis will investigate this. We will be taking great interest in what they find in this investigation. And we’ll see where it goes from there.”
President Biden warned earlier this month that he would stop supplying Israel with offensive weapons such as bombs and artillery shells if it launched a long-promised invasion of Rafah.
The White House has urged Israel not to send forces to Rafah without a clear plan to safely evacuate civilians because the war has already left tens of thousands of Palestinians dead. Around a million refugees have settled in Rafah after fleeing fighting in northern Gaza.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan last week told reporters that there was “no mathematical formula” for evaluating Israel’s conduct in Rafah, but officials would look at “whether there is a lot of death and destruction in this operation or whether it is more accurate.” and proportional. ”
But administration officials said Tuesday that Sunday’s airstrike, which was the deadliest incident in Rafah since Israel launched an offensive there, did not live up to what the White House warned.
“It is still our assessment that what is happening in Rafah and what the [Israeli military] are doing, their scope is limited.” Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the Rafah fire as tragic and said Israel is “investigating it thoroughly and will learn from it, as well as our long-standing policy and conduct.” Israeli officials reportedly told the U.S. that shrapnel from an attack aimed at senior Hamas leaders hit a fuel tank near a displacement camp.
But the resulting carnage underscored international alarm over Israel’s conduct of military operations, and came just days after a key United Nations court issued a ruling for Israel to suspend its military operations in Rafah.
The White House has for weeks urged Israel to do everything in its power to prevent the deaths of innocent civilians and aid workers in Gaza, where dozens of Palestinians do not have access to adequate food, water and medicine.
Biden has grown increasingly frustrated with Netanyahu, saying in an interview earlier this year that his handling of the war in Gaza was hurting Israel more than it was helping.
Kirby said Tuesday that “no civilian casualties are the right number of civilian casualties” but acknowledged that innocent people are often killed in war.
“There is no measure or quota here,” he said, when asked if there had been a number of civilian deaths that would prompt US action. “As we have said many times, the right number of civilian casualties is zero. .”
Updated at 4:06 pm EDT
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
