Israel strikes Rafah after US warning against expanding ground offensive to overcrowded city
THE USA IS A PAPER TIGER
Tara Suter
Fri, February 9, 2024
Israel struck the southern Gaza city of Rafah, following a warning from Biden administration officials and aid agencies to Israel against expanding its ground offensive to there, according to The Associated Press.
Airstrikes, occurring overnight and into Friday, struck two residential buildings in the southern city. In central Gaza, two other places were bombed, including a kindergarten that had become a shelter for those who were displaced. AP journalists who saw bodies coming into hospitals reported that 22 people were killed.
On Thursday, President Biden gave some of his most forceful criticisms of Israel’s actions in Gaza in remarks from the White House.
“I’m of the view, as you know, that the conduct of the response in Gaza Strip has been over the top,” the president said.
Biden said he had pushed the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, whom he accidentally called the “president of Mexico,” to open gates for humanitarian aid to make its way into Gaza.
“I’ve been pushing really hard, really hard to get humanitarian assistance into Gaza,” Biden said. “There are a lot of innocent people who are starving, lot of innocent people who are in trouble and dying. And it’s got to stop.”
The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said that the death toll of Palestinians is now close to 28,000, according to the AP. This toll includes both civilians and combatants.
Israel stating its intention for the expansion of the ground offensive into Rafah resulted in American backlash.
“We have yet to see any evidence of serious planning for such an operation,” State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said Thursday.
Patel also said that going ahead with the offensive “with no planning and little thought in an area where there is sheltering of a million people would be a disaster.”
Israel-Gaza war: US says it will not back unplanned Rafah offensive
Tom Bateman State Department Correspondent & Kathryn Armstrong & Patrick Jackson - BBC News
Fri, February 9, 2024 at 6:59 AM MST·4 min read
69
The British Broadcasting Corporation
The US has warned Israel that staging a military offensive into Gaza's southern city of Rafah without proper planning would be a "disaster".
Some 1.5 million Palestinians are surviving in the city bordering Egypt in dire humanitarian conditions.
The White House said it would not support major operations without due consideration for the refugees there.
The comments come days after Israel's leader said the military had been told to prepare to operate in Rafah.
Speaking on Thursday evening, and without referring to Rafah, US President Joe Biden said Israel's actions in Gaza had been "over the top".
Reported Israeli air strikes on Gaza on Friday killed at least 15 people including eight in Rafah, officials from the Hamas-run health ministry said. Israel did not immediately comment.
Salem El-Rayyes, a freelance journalist living at a camp for displaced people in Rafah, said children were among those killed when an air strike hit a house nearby. Bodies of the victims "flew from the third floor", he told Reuters.
Most of the people in Rafah have been displaced by fighting from other parts of Gaza and are living in tents.
Garda al-Kourd, a mother-of-two who said she had been displaced six times during the war, said she was expecting an Israeli assault but hoped there would be a ceasefire agreement before it happened.
"If they come to Rafah, it will be the end for us, like we are waiting for death. We have no other place to go," she told the BBC from a relative's house in Rafah where she was living with 20 other people.
The head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, Jan Egeland, told the BBC that such an operation in Rafah - which he called "the world's biggest displacement camp" - would be a catastrophe.
"There are people on their flimsy plastic sheeting. They are fighting for food. There is no drinking water. There is epidemic disease and then they [the IDF] want to bring a war to this place. You can't make it up really," he said.
Much of northern and central Gaza has been reduced to ruins by sustained Israeli bombardment since the war began on 7 October.
Earlier, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the Israeli military had a "special obligation as they conduct operations there or anywhere else to make sure that they're factoring in protection for innocent civilian life".
"Military operations right now would be a disaster for those people and it's not something that we would support," he said, adding that the US had not seen anything to suggest Israel was going to launch a major operation in Rafah imminently.
Deputy State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel echoed Mr Kirby's comments, saying: ''We [the US] would not support the undertaking of something like this without serious and credible planning."
Asked by the BBC where refugees in Rafah should go in the event of an operation, Mr Patel said these were "legitimate questions that we believe the Israelis should answer".
Speaking in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said any "military operation that Israel undertakes needs to put civilians first and foremost... and that's especially true in the case of Rafah".
It is rare for the US, a key ally and military backer of Israel, to talk about any forthcoming stages of the country's military offensive in Gaza - but this was a clear warning.
Why are Israel and Hamas fighting in Gaza?
Washington sends around $3.8bn (£3bn) in military aid to Israel each year, making the country the world's biggest recipient of such funding.
Around 1,300 people were killed during the Hamas attacks on southern Israel on 7 October, according to Israeli officials.
More than 27,800 Palestinians have been killed and at least 67,000 injured by the war launched by Israel in response, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
"They are living in overcrowded makeshift shelters, in unsanitary conditions, without running water, electricity and adequate food supplies," was the stark assessment of the situation by UN chief António Guterres on Thursday.
"We were clear in condemning the horrific acts of Hamas. We are also clear in condemning the violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza."
On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered troops to "prepare to operate" in Rafah and that "total victory" by Israel over Hamas was just months away.
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GRAFITTI VIET NAM, 1968
Tara Suter
Fri, February 9, 2024
Israel struck the southern Gaza city of Rafah, following a warning from Biden administration officials and aid agencies to Israel against expanding its ground offensive to there, according to The Associated Press.
Airstrikes, occurring overnight and into Friday, struck two residential buildings in the southern city. In central Gaza, two other places were bombed, including a kindergarten that had become a shelter for those who were displaced. AP journalists who saw bodies coming into hospitals reported that 22 people were killed.
On Thursday, President Biden gave some of his most forceful criticisms of Israel’s actions in Gaza in remarks from the White House.
“I’m of the view, as you know, that the conduct of the response in Gaza Strip has been over the top,” the president said.
Biden said he had pushed the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, whom he accidentally called the “president of Mexico,” to open gates for humanitarian aid to make its way into Gaza.
“I’ve been pushing really hard, really hard to get humanitarian assistance into Gaza,” Biden said. “There are a lot of innocent people who are starving, lot of innocent people who are in trouble and dying. And it’s got to stop.”
The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said that the death toll of Palestinians is now close to 28,000, according to the AP. This toll includes both civilians and combatants.
Israel stating its intention for the expansion of the ground offensive into Rafah resulted in American backlash.
“We have yet to see any evidence of serious planning for such an operation,” State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said Thursday.
Patel also said that going ahead with the offensive “with no planning and little thought in an area where there is sheltering of a million people would be a disaster.”
Israel-Gaza war: US says it will not back unplanned Rafah offensive
Tom Bateman State Department Correspondent & Kathryn Armstrong & Patrick Jackson - BBC News
Fri, February 9, 2024 at 6:59 AM MST·4 min read
69
The British Broadcasting Corporation
The US has warned Israel that staging a military offensive into Gaza's southern city of Rafah without proper planning would be a "disaster".
Some 1.5 million Palestinians are surviving in the city bordering Egypt in dire humanitarian conditions.
The White House said it would not support major operations without due consideration for the refugees there.
The comments come days after Israel's leader said the military had been told to prepare to operate in Rafah.
Speaking on Thursday evening, and without referring to Rafah, US President Joe Biden said Israel's actions in Gaza had been "over the top".
Reported Israeli air strikes on Gaza on Friday killed at least 15 people including eight in Rafah, officials from the Hamas-run health ministry said. Israel did not immediately comment.
Salem El-Rayyes, a freelance journalist living at a camp for displaced people in Rafah, said children were among those killed when an air strike hit a house nearby. Bodies of the victims "flew from the third floor", he told Reuters.
Most of the people in Rafah have been displaced by fighting from other parts of Gaza and are living in tents.
Garda al-Kourd, a mother-of-two who said she had been displaced six times during the war, said she was expecting an Israeli assault but hoped there would be a ceasefire agreement before it happened.
"If they come to Rafah, it will be the end for us, like we are waiting for death. We have no other place to go," she told the BBC from a relative's house in Rafah where she was living with 20 other people.
The head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, Jan Egeland, told the BBC that such an operation in Rafah - which he called "the world's biggest displacement camp" - would be a catastrophe.
"There are people on their flimsy plastic sheeting. They are fighting for food. There is no drinking water. There is epidemic disease and then they [the IDF] want to bring a war to this place. You can't make it up really," he said.
Much of northern and central Gaza has been reduced to ruins by sustained Israeli bombardment since the war began on 7 October.
Earlier, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the Israeli military had a "special obligation as they conduct operations there or anywhere else to make sure that they're factoring in protection for innocent civilian life".
"Military operations right now would be a disaster for those people and it's not something that we would support," he said, adding that the US had not seen anything to suggest Israel was going to launch a major operation in Rafah imminently.
Deputy State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel echoed Mr Kirby's comments, saying: ''We [the US] would not support the undertaking of something like this without serious and credible planning."
Asked by the BBC where refugees in Rafah should go in the event of an operation, Mr Patel said these were "legitimate questions that we believe the Israelis should answer".
Speaking in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said any "military operation that Israel undertakes needs to put civilians first and foremost... and that's especially true in the case of Rafah".
It is rare for the US, a key ally and military backer of Israel, to talk about any forthcoming stages of the country's military offensive in Gaza - but this was a clear warning.
Why are Israel and Hamas fighting in Gaza?
Washington sends around $3.8bn (£3bn) in military aid to Israel each year, making the country the world's biggest recipient of such funding.
Around 1,300 people were killed during the Hamas attacks on southern Israel on 7 October, according to Israeli officials.
More than 27,800 Palestinians have been killed and at least 67,000 injured by the war launched by Israel in response, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
"They are living in overcrowded makeshift shelters, in unsanitary conditions, without running water, electricity and adequate food supplies," was the stark assessment of the situation by UN chief António Guterres on Thursday.
"We were clear in condemning the horrific acts of Hamas. We are also clear in condemning the violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza."
On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered troops to "prepare to operate" in Rafah and that "total victory" by Israel over Hamas was just months away.
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