Joe Biden's government said this Tuesday (28) that it is closely monitoring the investigation into an Israeli airstrike that killed 45 people in Rafah.
Despite opposing a military operation in the city south of Gaza, the United States said the recent attacks did not cross the American government's “red line” and aid to Israel would continue.
“The Israelis said it was a tragic mistake,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters at the White House. Kirby was asked whether the weekend's events qualify as a “death and destruction” action that American officials have warned could lead the United States to withhold additional support for Israel.
The American government doesn't have a “ruler or a quota,” Kirby said.
“We have also said that we do not want to see a major ground operation in Rafah that would actually make it difficult for the Israelis to go after Hamas without causing extensive damage and potentially a large number of deaths. We haven’t seen that yet,” he said.
Kirby also highlighted that Israel's operations were mainly carried out in a corridor on the outskirts of Rafah.
The latest deaths in Rafah have tested President Joe Biden's pledge to withhold weapons if Israel conducts a major invasion of the city that puts civilians at risk.
Speaking at a ceremonial event in Washington, US Vice President Kamala Harris said that “the word tragic does not even begin to describe” the Israeli airstrike last Sunday that set fire to a camp in Rafah, Gaza, killing 45 Palestinians.
Israel stated that “something unfortunately went tragically wrong” in Sunday's air strike, and its army denied having bombed a camp this Tuesday (28).
Israel said it targeted two high-ranking Hamas operators in Sunday's operation and did not intend to cause civilian casualties.
Kirby told reporters there is a real risk that Israel could become even more isolated in the international community because of the way it is conducting its operations.
“So this is a concern, clearly, because it is not in Israel’s interest,” Kirby said. “And it is not in our interest for Israel to become increasingly isolated on the world stage.”
The US government's response had been criticized this Tuesday (28) by human rights groups.
“Unfortunately, because of President Biden's insistence on sending more bombs to enable Netanyahu's war crimes in Rafah, this is now both an American genocide and an Israeli genocide,” said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on Islamic Relations -Americans (FALL).
Israeli and American officials have denounced the use of the term genocide to describe what is happening in Gaza.
Source: CNN Brasil
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