White House says Israel’s Rafah strike do not cross Biden’s red line

As Israeli soldiers went further into Rafah a place in Gaza just a few days after a big bomb hit. Then started a fire that killed many Palestinians. The White House said that Israel did not cross Biden’s red line and something the Biden government had warned strongly against.

On Tuesday tanks from Israel were spotted moving into the center of Rafah for the first time. This happened as more and more people around the world criticized what happened. When many people died in a camp where lots of people without homes were living.

Also the United States stopped sending help to Gaza by boat because the place where the boats stop got broken. Then on Wednesday, the person in charge of Israel’s national security. He said that the fighting will keep going until the end of the year.

At a meeting with reporters John Kirby who speaks for the National Security Council. He said that the United States is not ignoring what Israel is doing in the southern part of Gaza City.

Many people have left this area recently, around a million Palestinians. He said that according to the Biden administration what Israel is doing in Rafah right now is not a big military operation that breaks the rules President Biden set. Biden warned that if Israel did something big like that the U.S. would stop giving them weapons.

A big ground operation means lots and lots of soldiers moving together in a planned. Which organized way attacking different places on the ground, he said.

Another person who works for the United States, talking to media said. That even though America thinks the bomb that killed many people was really bad. It seems like it happened because a bomb from a plane went very wrong. They do not see it as Israel just crashing into Rafah.

Biden recently told CNN, I said clearly that if they go into Rafah they have not gone into Rafah. Yet if they go into Rafah I am not giving them the weapons that have used before to deal with Rafah or the cities dealing with that problem.

When NBC News Gabe Gutierrez asked how it was not seen as a big ground operation. When Israeli tanks were getting close to central Gaza. Kirby explained that Israeli leaders said their tanks were moving along a specific area called the Philadelphi Corridor. This place is important and runs along the border between Egypt and Gaza not directly into the town itself.

That what the Israelis told us, Kirby answered. We were going by what the Israelis are saying to us. What they were saying out loud and what we can understand from the information available to us.

Kirby said this a few days after the Israeli airstrike caused a fire that destroyed the tent camp in Rafah’s Tal al Sultan area. The fire killed at least 45 people including children according to local health officials.

Hala Rharrit a diplomat from the United States who has working in foreign affairs for a long time left her job at the State Department last month. Because she disagreed with how the U.S. was dealing with Israel’s war in Gaza. She feels that now the Biden’s government is trying to find a way to get out so they cross a red line. What they said before about what would make them stop supporting Israel.

The president said that if they attack places where many people live that is a big problem. She said in a phone call with NBC News on Wednesday. The whole point of saying that was to stop lots of innocent people from getting hurt. Whether its tanks going in or bombs coming from the sky are we really just playing with words here.

The tent camp attack has increased pressure internationally. Especially after the United Nations top court instructed Israel to stop its offensive in Rafah. The UN Security Council might vote soon on a draft resolution from Algeria. That calls for Israel to immediately halt its offensive and for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Israel shared a new proposal for a ceasefire with mediators from Qatar, Egypt and the US on Monday. As told by an Israeli official to NBC News. The proposal aims for a sustainable calm but does not agree to end the war entirely which Hamas demands.

Basem Naim a senior Hamas official stated to NBC News on Tuesday. That Hamas had not received any proposals from the mediators.

During a briefing on Tuesday, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces mentioned that Israel is still investigating the Rafah strike. Which including the cause of the fire which he said led to the tragic loss of life.

The IDF fired two 17 kilogram (37.5 pound) warheads targeting two senior Hamas militants. But according to Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari a fire was unexpectedly ignited. Hagari suggested the possibility that weapons stored in the targeted area might have caused the fire.

Though he described this as an assumption. Both an Israeli official and a US official separately mentioned to NBC News. The possibility that a fuel tank struck leading to the ignition of the blaze.

The pictures from the attack have made many people want the US to do something.

During the White House meeting on Tuesday someone asked how many burned bodies President Biden needed to see before changing his plans. John Kirby who was at the meeting did not like this question. He said it made him feel bad. He explained that they do not want to see any more innocent people get hurt not even one.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) conducted a long ground operation in Gaza. Where more than 36,000 people reported killed according to Gaza Health Ministry.

Israel initiated the offensive in response to terror attacks by Hamas on October 7. Israeli officials claimed that approximately 1,200 people died in these attacks with around 250 others taken as hostages. It estimated that 125 individuals still held captive in Gaza with at least a third of them presumed to be deceased.

National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi mentioned on Israeli radio. That they anticipate seven more months of fighting this year to further weaken Hamas. And achieve their goal of dismantling both its government and military capabilities.

President Biden’s recent warning regarding the US red line is similar to former President Obama use of the phrase in 2012. When he cautioned against the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian civil war.

Critics accused Obama of failing to uphold this boundary with political opponent John McCain. Which stating that the administration Biden’s red line seemed to lack credibility.