{"id":46043,"date":"2024-05-29T05:03:18","date_gmt":"2024-05-29T05:03:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2024\/05\/29\/israels-operation-in-rafah-doesnt-cross-us-red-lines-white-house\/"},"modified":"2024-05-29T05:03:18","modified_gmt":"2024-05-29T05:03:18","slug":"israels-operation-in-rafah-doesnt-cross-us-red-lines-white-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/israels-operation-in-rafah-doesnt-cross-us-red-lines-white-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel\u2019s operation in Rafah doesn\u2019t cross US red lines \u2013 White House"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The US does not believe Israel has launched a full-scale invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza, White House spokesman John Kirby has said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He spoke hours after Israeli forces reached the centre of the city and reportedly seized a strategically important hill overlooking the nearby border with Egypt.<\/p>\n

US President Joe Biden said this month he would limit weapons supplies to Israel if it entered the \u201cpopulation centres\u201d of Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of civilians are still believed to be sheltering.<\/p>\n

Mr Kirby was also questioned about an Israeli strike and a resulting fire that killed at least 45 Palestinians \u2013 many of them women, children, or elderly \u2013 at a camp for displaced people on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Israel has said the strike targeted and killed two senior Hamas officials, and that it believes the fire could have been caused by an explosion at a Hamas weapons store nearby.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters, Mr Kirby described images from the aftermath of the strike as \u201cheartbreaking\u201d and \u201chorrific\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere should be no innocent life lost here as a result of this conflict,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The US state department said it was watching closely for the Israeli military to conduct a quick and thorough investigation into the strike.<\/p>\n

Pressed by BBC correspondent Tom Bateman on whether previous such investigations had led to accountability, state department spokesman Matthew Miller declined to name specific cases.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou cannot reach a conclusion about the results of these investigations in the middle of a conflict,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

When the White House spokesman was asked whether the strike had violated the limits previously set by President Biden, he said he had \u201cno policy changes to speak to\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t support, we won\u2019t support a major ground operation in Rafah,\u201d Mr Kirby said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe president said that, should that occur, then it might make him have to make different decisions in terms of support.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t seen that happen at this point. We have not seen them smash into Rafah.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have not seen them go in with large units, large numbers of troops, in columns and formations in some sort of co-ordinated manoeuvre against multiple targets on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israel has insisted it will not be able to achieve victory in its seven-month war against Hamas in Gaza without taking Rafah and rejected warnings of catastrophic humanitarian consequences.<\/p>\n

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) first began what it called \u201ctargeted\u201d ground operations against Hamas fighters and infrastructure in the east of Rafah on 6 May.<\/p>\n

Since then, tanks and troops have gradually pushed into built-up eastern and central areas while also moving northwards along the 13km (8-mile) border with Egypt.<\/p>\n

Speaking to CNN on 8 May, President Biden said he had made it clear to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that \u201cif they go into Rafah, I\u2019m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities, to deal with that problem\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said he had not suspended the supply of weapons at that point because Israel had not yet \u201cgone into the population centres\u201d in Rafah and that its operations had been \u201cright on the border\u201d.<\/p>\n

The president is facing growing calls at home to put greater pressure on the Israeli government to ensure everything is done to minimise the humanitarian impact of the conflict.<\/p>\n

Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen, who visited Gaza in January, told the Washington Post: \u201cThe escalating civilian death toll and deepening humanitarian catastrophe make clear that the Biden administration should pause additional offensive military assistance to the Netanyahu government until we know that all the president\u2019s requests, including with respect to Rafah and the urgent delivery of humanitarian assistance, will be respected.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an address to the Israeli parliament on Monday, Mr Netanyahu said Sunday\u2019s strike had been a \u201ctragic mishap\u201d but vowed to continue with the Rafah operation.<\/p>\n

Describing the aftermath of the strike, Mohammad al-Mughayyir, an official with Gaza\u2019s Hamas-run civil defence agency, was quoted as saying by AFP news agency: \u201cWe saw charred bodies and dismembered limbs. We also saw cases of amputations, wounded children women, and the elderly.\u201d<\/p>\n

An eyewitness named Muhannad, himself a displaced resident of Gaza, described the air strike: \u201cWhen we heard the sound the sky suddenly lit up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamad, another man at the scene, told AFP: \u201cWhen these rockets fall on a tower block there are dozens of martyrs, so what about when they are tents?\u201d<\/p>\n

The attack has drawn protests from regional governments, including Egypt and Qatar who have acted as mediators in the conflict, as well as Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.<\/p>\n

Egypt said the strike was part of a \u201csystematic policy\u201d intended to make Gaza \u201cuninhabitable\u201d and Qatar described it as a \u201cdangerous violation of international law\u201d that could \u201ccomplicate ongoing mediation efforts\u201d.<\/p>\n

Jordan accused Israel of \u201congoing war crimes\u201d, while Saudi Arabia condemned the \u201ccontinued massacres\u201d, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed \u201cto hold these barbarians and murderers accountable\u201d.<\/p>\n

The UN has said around a million people have now fled the fighting in Rafah but that several hundred thousand more could still be sheltering there.<\/p>\n

Residents of the city reported heavy bombardment of western districts overnight on Monday, and on Tuesday the IDF said it was continuing operations against \u201cterror targets\u201d.<\/p>\n

Witnesses said Israeli tanks were stationed at al-Awda roundabout, a key landmark and the location of several major banks and government institutions.<\/p>\n

An eyewitness told the BBC that Israeli soldiers had taken up position on top of a building overlooking the area and started shooting at any movement. The allegation could not be independently verified.<\/p>\n

Speaking from Rafah on Tuesday, Sam Rose, a spokesman for UNRWA, the UN\u2019s humanitarian agency for Palestinian refugees, told BBC News: \u201cWhat we\u2019ve witnessed over the past 24 hours is an intensification of the bombardments in Rafah and military operations.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was, he said, \u201creal concern, real numbness, real fear amongst the population right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Israeli military has denied reports on Tuesday that its tank shells hit another tent camp in al-Mawasi, on the coast west of Rafah, which local officials said had killed at least 21 people.<\/p>\n

Videos of the incident posted to social media and analysed by BBC Verify showed multiple people with serious injuries.<\/p>\n

There was no clear sign of a blast zone or crater, making it impossible to ascertain the cause of the incident. The location \u2013 verified through reference to surrounding buildings \u2013 is between Rafah and al-Mawasi, and lies south of the Israeli military\u2019s designated humanitarian zone.<\/p>\n

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza to destroy Hamas in response to the group\u2019s cross-border attack on southern Israel on 7 October, during which about 1,200 people were killed and 252 others were taken hostage.<\/p>\n

At least 36,090 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The post Israel\u2019s operation in Rafah doesn\u2019t cross US red lines \u2013 White House<\/a> first appeared on KBC<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The US does not believe Israel has launched a full-scale invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza, White House spokesman John Kirby has said. He spoke hours after Israeli forces reached the centre of the city and reportedly seized a strategically important hill overlooking the nearby border with Egypt. US President Joe Biden said this month […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46043\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}