US says Israel has ‘not yet’ crossed red lines in Rafah

Washington
US National Security Council spokesman’s statement comes as UNSC meets over deadly Sunday strike
Rafah, Palestinian Territories, May 29, 2024 (AFP)–Israel carried out fresh strikes on Wednesday in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where its forces are battling Hamas resistance fighters, after the UN Security Council met to discuss a deadly attack that sparked a global outcry.
Despite mounting concern over the civilian toll of its war on Hamas, Israel has shown no sign of changing course, and international efforts aimed at securing a ceasefire remain stalled.
AFP journalists in Rafah reported new strikes early Wednesday, hours after witnesses and a Palestinian security source said Israeli tanks had penetrated the heart of the city.
“People are currently inside their homes because anyone who moves is being shot at by Israeli drones,” resident Abdel Khatib said.
US President Joe Biden has warned Israel against launching a major military operation in Rafah, but his administration insisted Tuesday that Israel had not yet crossed its red lines.
“We have not seen them smash into Rafah,” said the US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.
A civil defence official in Gaza said an Israeli strike on a displacement camp west of Rafah on Tuesday killed at least 21 people, after a similar strike over the weekend sparked global outrage and prompted the emergency UN Security Council session.
Israel’s army rejected allegations that it had carried out Tuesday’s strike in a designated humanitarian area.
“The (Israel army) did not strike in the humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi,” the army said in a statement, referring to an area that had been designated for displaced people of Rafah to shelter.
On Sunday, an Israeli strike outside Rafah ignited an inferno in a displacement camp, torching makeshift shelters and killing 45 people, according to Palestinian officials. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the strike a “tragic accident”, while the army said it had targeted a Hamas compound and killed two senior members of the group. The military later said the weapons it had used “could not” have caused the deadly camp blaze.
“Our munition alone could not have ignited a fire of this size,” Daniel Hagari, a spokesman for the Israeli army, said ahead of Tuesday’s emergency UN session on the strike.
Algeria, which called the urgent meeting, said it had presented a draft resolution to Security Council members calling for an end to Israel’s offensive in Rafah and an “immediate ceasefire,” according to a draft text seen by AFP.