White House says Israel's Rafah strike and ground assault don't cross Biden's 'red line'
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
White House says Israel's Rafah strike and ground assault don't cross Biden's 'red line'
Israel’s actions in Rafah so far did not represent a “major ground operation” that would violate President Joe Biden’s warnings, the U.S. said Tuesday.
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Israel carries out new airstrikes in Gaza amid growing outrage
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May 29, 2024, 2:59 PM GMT+5:30 / Updated May 29, 2024, 6:50 PM GMT+5:30
By Chantal Da Silva, Monica Alba, Raf Sanchez and Abigail Williams
As Israeli forces pushed deeper into Rafah just days after an airstrike sparked a major fire that killed dozens of Palestinians, the White House said that its ally had not crossed the Biden administration’s “red line.”
Israeli tanks were seen entering central Rafah for the first time Tuesday, as global condemnation mounted over the deaths in a crowded tent camp for displaced civilians and as U.S. aid deliveries to Gaza by sea were suspended after damage to its temporary pier. And on Wednesday, the country's national security adviser said he expected the war to continue through the end of the year.
But U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters at a briefing that the U.S. was not turning a “blind eye” to Israel’s operations in the southern Gaza city, from which around 1 million Palestinians have fled in recent weeks.
He said the Biden administration did not believe Israel’s actions in Rafah so far represented a “major ground operation” that would violate President Joe Biden’s warnings and trigger a change in U.S. policy, including a threatened halt to weapons shipments.
“A major ground operation is, you know, thousands and thousands of troops moving in a maneuvered, concentrated, coordinated way against a variety of targets on the ground,” he said.
A U.S. official similarly told NBC News that while America believed the deadly strike was a “horrific incident,” it appeared to be the result of an airstrike gone “horribly wrong” and didn’t represent Israel “smashing into Rafah.”
In any case, U.S. Public safety Gathering representative John Kirby told correspondents at a preparation that the U.S. was not turning a "visually impaired eye" to Israel's tasks in the southern Gaza city, from which around 1 million Palestinians have escaped lately.
He said the Biden organization didn't completely accept that Israel's activities in Rafah so far addressed a "significant ground activity" that would disregard President Joe Biden's admonitions and trigger an adjustment of U.S. strategy, including a compromised stop to weapons shipments.
"A significant ground activity is, you know, a great many soldiers moving in a moved, concentrated, composed way against various focuses on the ground," he said.
A U.S. official comparably let NBC News know that while America accepted the destructive strike was a "horrendous episode," it gave off an impression of being the consequence of an airstrike gone "terribly off-base" and didn't address Israel "crushing into Rafah.
Biden told CNN recently: " That's what I clarified on the off chance that they go into Rafah — they haven't gone in Rafah yet — assuming they go into Rafah, I'm not providing the weapons that have been utilized generally to manage Rafah, to manage the urban areas — that arrangement with that issue."
Asked by NBC News' Gabe Gutierrez the way in which Israeli tanks seeming to approach focal Gaza didn't address a full-scale ground activity, Kirby said Israeli authorities had kept up with that their tanks were moving along the Philadelphi Hall, a vital key segment of land running along the Egypt-Gaza line, and "not in the town legitimate."
"That is the very thing that the Israelis have said," Kirby answered. " We're going in view of everything that the Israelis are saying to us and what they're talking about openly and what we're ready to perceive, decently well."
The attack on the tent camp has added to growing international pressure after the United Nations’ top court ordered Israel to halt its offensive in Rafah. The U.N. Security Council could vote as early as Wednesday on a draft resolution circulated by Algeria ordering Israel to immediately stop its offensive and demanding a cease-fire in Gaza, according to The Associated Press.
Israel submitted a new cease-fire proposal to Qatari, Egyptian and American mediators Monday, an Israeli official told NBC News. The proposal offered a “sustainable calm” but not a complete end to the war as demanded by Hamas.
Basem Naim, a senior Hamas official, told NBC News on Tuesday that Hamas had not received any proposal from the mediators.
In a briefing Tuesday, Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Israel was still investigating the Rafah strike, including what caused the fire that he said “resulted in this tragic loss of life.”
4He said the IDF terminated two 17 kilogram (37.5 pound) warheads focusing on two senior Hamas aggressors, however he said in some way a fire was touched off, adding that the blast was "unforeseen and accidental."
He recommended the likelihood that weapons put away in the space focused on could have touched off the shoot, however said that was an "presumption" as of now. An Israeli authority and U.S. official independently told NBC News it was conceivable a gas tank was struck, lighting the blast.
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