Israeli attack on Rafah and ground attack do not cross Biden’s ‘red line’, says White House

As Israeli forces advanced deeper into Rafah, just days after an airstrike set off a massive fire that killed dozens of Palestinians, the White House said its ally had did not cross the Biden administration’s “red line.”

Israeli tanks were seen entering the center of Rafah for the first time on Tuesday, as global condemnation grew over the deaths at a crowded camp for displaced civilians and as US aid deliveries to Gaza by sea were suspended following damage to its temporary pier.

But National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told journalists at a briefing that the United States was not “turning a blind eye” to Israel’s operations in the southern city of Gaza, where about 1 million people live. Palestinians have fled in recent weeks.

He said the Biden administration does not believe Israel’s actions in Rafah thus far represent a “major ground operation” that would violate President Joe Biden’s warnings and trigger a change in U.S. policy, including the threat of a suspension of weapons shipments. .

Biden told CNN earlier this month: “I have made it clear that if they enter Rafah – they have not entered Rafah yet – if they enter Rafah, I will not provide the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah. , to deal with cities – who deal with this problem.”

Asked by NBC News’ Gabe Gutierrez about how the Israeli tanks appearing near central Gaza did not represent a large-scale ground operation, Kirby said Israeli officials asserted that their tanks were moving along the Philadelphia Corridor, a important strategic strip of land running along the Egypt-Gaza border, and “not in the city proper”.

“That’s what the Israelis said,” Kirby responded. “We’re going to go based on what the Israelis are telling us and what they’re saying publicly and what we’re able to discern, as best we can.”

Kirby’s comments came just days after an Israeli airstrike sparked a fire that devastated a camp in Rafah’s Tal al-Sultan neighborhood, killing at least 45 people, including children, according to local health officials.

The attack added to growing international pressure after the United Nations’ top court ordered Israel to halt its offensive on Rafah. The United Nations Security Council could vote as early as Wednesday on a draft resolution distributed by Algeria ordering Israel to immediately stop its offensive and demanding a ceasefire in Gaza, according to the Associated Press news agency.

In a briefing on Tuesday, Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Israel was still investigating the attack, including what caused the fire which he said “resulted in this tragic loss of lives.”

Hagari said the IDF fired two 17-kilogram (37.5-pound) munitions at two senior Hamas militants, but said that somehow a fire was lit, adding that the fire was “unexpected and unintentional.”

He suggested the possibility that weapons stored in the hit area could have ignited the fire, but said that was a “guess” at this time. An Israeli official and a U.S. official separately told NBC News that it was possible a fuel tank had been hit, sparking the fire.

Images of the attack increased pressure on the US to act.

Asked during Tuesday’s White House briefing how many “charred corpses” Biden needed to see before changing policy, Kirby said he was “offended” by the question, saying, “We don’t want to see another single innocent life taken.” .

The US also warned Israel against launching a full-scale ground invasion of Gaza at the start of the war, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly announced plans to do so.

But after months of publicizing plans for a full-scale invasion, Israeli ground troops quietly entered the Gaza Strip with little fanfare in late October, in a move that appeared to avoid drawing American ire. The IDF’s entry into Gaza marked the beginning of a month-long ground offensive in which more than 36,000 people were killed, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.

Israel launched the offensive following Hamas attacks on October 7, in which around 1,200 people were killed and around 250 others taken hostage. according to Israeli officials. Around 125 people are believed to remain detained in Gaza, with at least around a third dead.

Biden’s warning about the US’s “red line” is reminiscent of former President Barack Obama’s use of the expression in August 2012, when he issued a warning about the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian civil war.

Critics accused Obama of allowing this border to be crossed without US action, with political opponent John McCain saying the Obama administration’s red line appeared to be “written in disappearing ink.”