U.S. officers stated 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 pink line for withholding weapons shipments to Israel.
The bloodshed got here after Mr. Biden warned earlier this month that the US would block sure arms transfers if Israel focused closely populated areas in Rafah — a warning that has been examined repeatedly because the warfare has floor on.
John F. Kirby, a White Home spokesman, stated the deaths had been “devastating” however that the dimensions of the assault was not sufficient to alter U.S. coverage. “We don’t wish to see a significant floor operation,” Mr. Kirby informed reporters. “We haven’t seen that.”
Israeli tanks had been on the outskirts of town “to attempt to put stress on Hamas,” Mr. Kirby stated. He additionally provided a measure of specificity about Mr. Biden’s warning to Israel, which critics have stated was too obscure.
“We’ve not seen them go in with massive items and huge numbers of troops in columns and formations in some form of coordinated maneuver in opposition to a number of targets on the bottom,” Mr. Kirby stated. “Every thing that we will see tells us that they aren’t shifting in in a significant floor operation in inhabitants facilities within the metropolis of Rafah.”
Mr. Biden has confronted stress from advocates and members of his personal occasion to make use of his energy to curtail arms to Israel as a technique to affect its conduct within the warfare. The USA 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 fireplace and killed no less than 45 folks, together with kids, and wounded 249, in keeping 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, stated “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 pink line for Mr. Biden.
Nonetheless, the Israeli navy’s conduct was just like what Mr. Biden stated he wouldn’t tolerate when he warned, in an interview on CNN earlier this month, that the US 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 help if, in reality, they’re going into these inhabitants facilities,” Mr. Biden stated within the interview.
In that interview, Mr. Biden emphasised that the US would nonetheless guarantee Israel’s safety, citing the Iron Dome missile protection system and his help for Israel’s “skill to answer assaults.” However he stated he would block the supply of weapons that may very well be fired into densely populated areas of Rafah.
The realm that was hit on Sunday was not included in evacuation orders that Israel issued in early Could, and a few Palestinians sheltering within the camp stated they’d believed it was a secure zone.
The Israeli navy stated 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 stated it was a “tragic accident” that civilians had been killed.
Round a million folks have fled Rafah throughout Israel’s assault on town, in keeping with the United Nations, together with many within the western a part of town and within the space across the camp that was struck on Sunday.
A State Division spokesman, Matthew Miller, stated the US was watching Israel’s investigation of the incident intently.
“Israel has stated that it may need been that there was a Hamas ammo dump close to the world the place they took the strike,” Mr. Miller stated. “It’s a vital factual query that must be answered.”
The Israeli navy’s spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, informed a information convention that Israeli jets had fired the “smallest munitions” that they might use and added that “our munitions alone couldn’t have ignited a hearth 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, lots of them ladies and youngsters, in keeping with well being officers in Gaza.
World leaders, together with Mr. Biden, have warned of the risks of a significant navy operation in Rafah and not using a correct plan for evacuating the displaced Gazans taking refuge there.
Mr. Miller was in a position to present little element on lots of of hundreds of people that have fled Rafah in latest weeks.
“A few of them have gone again to Khan Younis,” he stated. “A few of them have pushed into western Rafah. A few of them have gone to Mawasi. I don’t assume there’s anyone reply.” Mr. Miller stated he didn’t know if Israel was aiding these folks.
Khaled Elgindy, a senior fellow on the Center East Institute and an adviser to Palestinian leaders throughout previous peace negotiations, stated the White Home was benefiting from its ambiguous descriptions on Mr. Biden’s “pink line” for Israel’s navy operation in Rafah.
“It’s positively blurry and by design,” Mr. Elgindy stated. “They don’t wish to be pinned down. They don’t wish to pin themselves down by figuring out an actual level or line that will get throughout as a result of Israel will completely cross that line. We’ve seen that again and again.”
Erica L. Inexperienced contributed reporting from Washington, and Michael Crowley from New York.
