EGN NEWS DESK
U.S. officers mentioned on Tuesday that the Israeli strike that killed dozens of Palestinians in southern Gaza was a tragedy however that it didn’t violate President Biden’s crimson line for withholding weapons shipments to Israel.
The bloodshed got here after Mr. Biden warned earlier this month that the United States would block sure arms transfers if Israel focused closely populated areas in Rafah — a warning that has been examined usually because the warfare has floor on.
John F. Kirby, a White House spokesman, mentioned the deaths have been “devastating” however that the size of the assault was not sufficient to alter U.S. coverage. “We don’t need to see a significant floor operation,” Mr. Kirby informed reporters. “We haven’t seen that.”
Israeli tanks have been on the outskirts of the town “to attempt to put strain on Hamas,” Mr. Kirby mentioned. He additionally supplied a measure of specificity about Mr. Biden’s warning to Israel, which critics have mentioned was too imprecise.
“We haven’t seen them go in with massive models and enormous numbers of troops in columns and formations in some kind of coordinated maneuver in opposition to a number of targets on the bottom,” Mr. Kirby mentioned. “Everything that we are able to see tells us that they aren’t transferring in in a significant floor operation in inhabitants facilities within the metropolis of Rafah.”
Mr. Biden has confronted strain from advocates and members of his personal party to make use of his energy to curtail arms to Israel as a approach to affect its conduct within the warfare. The United States is by far the largest provider of weapons to Israel, which raises questions on American duty because the loss of life toll mounts.
The strike in Rafah on Sunday ignited a lethal hearth and killed at the least 45 folks, together with youngsters, and wounded 249, in accordance with the Gazan well being ministry. It has prompted worldwide outrage, together with from leaders within the European Union, the United Nations, Egypt and China.
Vice President Kamala Harris, requested about Rafah on Tuesday, mentioned “the phrase tragic doesn’t even start to explain” the deaths. She didn’t reply a follow-up query about whether or not the strike crossed a crimson line for Mr. Biden.
Still, the Israeli army’s conduct was much like what Mr. Biden mentioned he wouldn’t tolerate when he warned, in an interview on CNN earlier this month, that the United States wouldn’t provide Israel with weapons to assault Rafah.
“I’ve made it clear to Bibi and the warfare cupboard they’re not going to get our assist if, in truth, they’re going into these inhabitants facilities,” Mr. Biden mentioned within the interview.
In that interview, Mr. Biden emphasised that the United States would nonetheless guarantee Israel’s safety, citing the Iron Dome missile protection system and his assist for Israel’s “skill to reply to assaults.” But he mentioned he would block the supply of weapons that could possibly be fired into densely populated areas of Rafah.
The space that was hit on Sunday was not included in evacuation orders that Israel issued in early May, and a few Palestinians sheltering within the camp mentioned they’d believed it was a secure zone.
The Israeli army mentioned that the goal of Sunday’s strike was a Hamas compound, and that “exact munitions” had been used to focus on a commander and one other senior official there. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned it was a “tragic accident” that civilians have been killed.
Around a million folks have fled Rafah throughout Israel’s assault on the town, in accordance with the United Nations, together with many within the western a part of the town and within the space across the camp that was struck on Sunday.
A State Department spokesman, Matthew Miller, mentioned the United States was watching Israel’s investigation of the incident intently.
“Israel has mentioned that it may need been that there was a Hamas ammo dump close to the world the place they took the strike,” Mr. Miller mentioned. “It’s a vital factual query that must be answered.”
The Israeli army’s spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, informed a information convention that Israeli jets had fired the “smallest munitions” that they may use and added that “our munitions alone couldn’t have ignited a fireplace of this dimension.”
Israel invaded Gaza after the Hamas-led assaults of Oct. 7 killed some 1,200 folks in Israel. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed greater than 36,000 folks, a lot of them ladies and youngsters, in accordance with well being officers in Gaza.
World leaders, together with Mr. Biden, have warned of the risks of a significant army operation in Rafah with out a correct plan for evacuating the displaced Gazans taking refuge there.
Mr. Miller was capable of present little element on a whole bunch of hundreds of people that have fled Rafah in current weeks.
“Some of them have gone again to Khan Younis,” he mentioned. “Some of them have pushed into western Rafah. Some of them have gone to Mawasi. I don’t suppose there’s anyone reply.” Mr. Miller mentioned he didn’t know if Israel was helping these folks.
Khaled Elgindy, a senior fellow on the Middle East Institute and an adviser to Palestinian leaders throughout previous peace negotiations, mentioned the White House was benefiting from its ambiguous descriptions on Mr. Biden’s “crimson line” for Israel’s army operation in Rafah.
“It’s positively blurry and by design,” Mr. Elgindy mentioned. “They don’t need to be pinned down. They don’t need to pin themselves down by figuring out a precise level or line that will get throughout as a result of Israel will completely cross that line. We’ve seen that time and again.”
Erica L. Green contributed reporting from Washington, and Michael Crowley from New York.
