The United States stated on Tuesday that Israel’s activities in Rafah thus far did not constitute a “major ground operation” that would contravene President Joe Biden’s warnings.
As Israeli forces advanced deeper into Rafah following an airstrike that caused a major fire and killed dozens of Palestinians, the White House asserted that its ally had not breached the Biden administration’s “red line.”
On Tuesday, Israeli tanks were observed entering central Rafah for the first time. This occurred amid increasing global condemnation over the deaths in a crowded tent camp for displaced civilians, and after U.S. aid deliveries to Gaza by sea were halted due to damage to its temporary pier. On Wednesday, Israel’s national security adviser stated that the conflict was expected to continue through the end of the year.
However, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby assured reporters that the United States was not ignoring Israel’s operations in the southern Gaza city, from which about 1 million Palestinians have fled recently.
Kirby indicated that the Biden administration did not consider Israel’s actions in Rafah to be a “major ground operation” that would breach President Joe Biden’s warnings and prompt a change in U.S. policy, including the threatened halt of weapons shipments.
“A major ground operation involves thousands and thousands of troops moving in a coordinated manner against various ground targets,” he explained.
A U.S. official similarly told NBC News that while the deadly strike was a “horrific incident,” it appeared to be an airstrike gone “horribly wrong” and did not signify Israel “smashing into Rafah.”
Earlier this month, Biden told CNN: “I made it clear that if they go into Rafah — they haven’t gone in Rafah yet — I’m not supplying the weapons historically used to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities — that deal with that problem.”
When asked by NBC News’ Gabe Gutierrez why the presence of Israeli tanks near central Gaza did not constitute a full-scale ground operation, Kirby responded that Israeli officials had claimed their tanks were moving along the Philadelphi Corridor, a key strategic strip along the Egypt-Gaza border, and “not in the town proper.”
“That’s what the Israelis have said,” Kirby said. “We’re going by what the Israelis are telling us, what they’re saying publicly, and what we can discern, as best we can.”
Kirby’s remarks came shortly after an Israeli airstrike ignited a fire that devastated the tent camp in Rafah’s Tal al-Sultan neighborhood, resulting in the deaths of at least 45 people, including children, according to local health officials.
Hala Rharrit, a U.S. diplomat and seasoned foreign service officer who resigned from the State Department last month in protest against Washington’s policy on Israel’s war in Gaza, criticized the Biden administration for attempting to “wiggle their way out of this latest shift” regarding what constitutes a “red line.”
“The president’s statement that population centers were a ‘red line’ was meant to prevent mass civilian casualties,” she said in a phone interview with NBC News on Wednesday. “Whether it involves tanks or bombs from the air, are we really going to split hairs?”
The attack on the tent camp has intensified international pressure after the United Nations’ top court ordered Israel to cease its offensive in Rafah. The U.N. Security Council might vote as early as Wednesday on a draft resolution from Algeria demanding that Israel immediately halt its offensive and enforce a cease-fire in Gaza, according to The Associated Press.
On Monday, Israel submitted a new cease-fire proposal to Qatari, Egyptian, and American mediators, an Israeli official told NBC News. The proposal aimed for a “sustainable calm” but did not meet Hamas’s demand for a complete end to the war.
Basem Naim, a senior Hamas official, stated on Tuesday that Hamas had not received any proposal from the mediators.
In a briefing on Tuesday, Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Israel was still investigating the Rafah strike and what caused the fire, which he described as “unexpected and unintended” and resulted in significant loss of life.
He mentioned that the IDF targeted two senior Hamas militants with two 17-kilogram (37.5-pound) warheads, which somehow ignited a fire. He suggested that weapons stored in the targeted area might have caused the fire, but clarified that this was only an assumption. An Israeli official and a U.S. official separately indicated that it was possible a fuel tank was hit, igniting the blaze.
The images from the strike have increased pressure on the U.S. to respond. During Tuesday’s White House briefing, when asked how many “charred corpses” President Biden needed to see before changing policy, Kirby expressed his offense to the question, stating, “We don’t want to see a single more innocent life taken.”
The IDF has been conducting a months-long ground offensive in Gaza, resulting in over 36,000 deaths, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. This offensive was initiated after Hamas’ terror attacks on October 7, which killed around 1,200 people and led to approximately 250 hostages being taken, as per Israeli officials. Currently, around 125 hostages are believed to remain in Gaza, with at least a third presumed dead.
On Wednesday, National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi mentioned on Israeli radio that they anticipate another seven months of fighting this year to achieve their goal of dismantling Hamas’s governmental and military capabilities, without adhering to a strict timeline.
Biden’s warning regarding the U.S. “red line” is reminiscent of former President Barack Obama’s similar warning in August 2012 about the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian civil war. Critics accused Obama of not acting when this boundary was crossed, with political opponent John McCain remarking that the Obama administration’s red line seemed to be “written in disappearing ink.”
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