According to the White House, the attack on the Rafah refugee camp did not cross Biden’s red line regarding his support for Israel

Washington
CNN
—

President Joe Biden will not change his policy toward Israel following the deadly attack that killed more than 45 people, the White House said Tuesday, suggesting the incident has not yet crossed a red line that would lead to changes in American support.

Instead, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the US would expect answers from Israel after the country investigated the incident. Kirby described it as “heartbreaking.”

“I don’t have any concerns about any policy changes as a result of Sunday’s attack. It just happened,” Kirby told reporters at the White House. “The Israelis will investigate. We will watch with great interest what they find out in that investigation. And then we will see how it goes.”

It was the clearest indication yet that Biden has not reached the point where he would consider suspending arms or other aid to Israel, despite saying in a CNN interview earlier this month that he would not allow the use of certain U.S. weapons in a major offensive in Rafah.

Kirby called on Israel to take precautions to protect civilians and warned that there was a risk that Israel could become even more isolated from its traditional allies, while stressing that there was no evidence so far that the country was waging a military campaign that would prompt Biden to withhold aid or weapons.

Israeli tanks were spotted in central Rafah on Tuesday for the first time in Israel’s seven-month war against Hamas, signaling a new phase of the offensive as Israel continues its advance despite mounting international pressure.

Over the weekend, Israel launched an airstrike on a refugee camp in southern Gaza, killing dozens of people and sparking outrage around the world. Israel said two Hamas leaders were also killed in the attack.

Footage obtained by CNN shows the camp ablaze as dozens of men, women and children desperately try to take cover from the night-time attack. Burnt bodies, including children, can be seen being pulled from the rubble by rescue workers.

“The word tragic does not even begin to describe it,” Vice President Kamala Harris said on Tuesday about the incident. When asked whether a red line had been crossed, she did not answer.

Still, Kirby said Israeli actions in southern Gaza City so far do not represent the scale of a major ground operation, which would involve the invasion of thousands of troops into the region.

“If that happens, he may have to make different decisions about support. We haven’t seen that happen yet,” Kirby said.

Biden has not commented publicly on either development, but was kept updated on events in Israel over the weekend, Kirby said.

The US response stood in sharp contrast to political leaders in Europe and elsewhere, who strongly condemned Israel’s actions and called for an end to the violence in Gaza.

French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his “outrage” over the attacks and called for an end to operations in Rafah.

“There are no safe zones for Palestinian civilians in Rafah,” he said on Monday. “I call for full respect for international law and an immediate ceasefire.”

In a press conference on Tuesday, Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Israel was investigating the possibility that Sunday’s attack may have accidentally detonated weapons stored in a nearby compound, sparking a major fire that devastated the refugee camp.

Kirby said the US would take Israel’s assessment of the incident into account when deciding how to proceed.

“We are not on the ground. We do not fly the planes. We do not select the targets. We do not provide the intelligence that leads to the targets that Israeli society wants to attack. It is their operation,” he said. “Their forces involved, their capabilities, their pilots, they have a duty to investigate this themselves and they will do that and we will look at it and see what comes out of it.”

The United States “will closely monitor the results of Israel’s investigation into the deadly attack and subsequent fire in Rafah,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said on Tuesday, adding that the results should be “presented openly and transparently to us and the world.”

“As soon as the United States received reports of this incident, we contacted the Israeli government to express our deep concern about what happened, request more information, and urge them to conduct a full investigation,” he said.