The Israeli military pressed its campaign against Hamas around the border city of Rafah, as President Biden signaled increasing discomfort with Israel’s Gaza offensive, calling it “over the top.”
U.S. officials have pointed to military operations in Rafah, where more than a million people have sought refuge, as a particular point of contention. “Military operations right now would be a disaster for those people, and it’s not something that we would support,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Thursday.
“Half of Gaza’s population is now crammed into Rafah with nowhere to go. Reports that the Israeli military intends to focus next on Rafah are alarming,” said United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres. “Such an action would exponentially increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare with untold regional consequences.”
The U.S.-Israel tensions come as diplomatic efforts have so far failed to reach a breakthrough. Secretary of State Antony Blinken left the Middle East on Thursday after meeting with Israeli officials and regional leaders who have sought to broker a cease-fire.
Israeli officials say they need to continue the campaign into Rafah to achieve Israel’s stated aim of destroying Hamas. They say Rafah contains smuggling routes linking Gaza with Egypt that the military seeks to dismantle.
Military operations in Rafah threaten to strain Israel’s relations with Egypt, its neighbor and diplomatic partner.
Egyptian officials said they warned Hamas this week that if the group didn’t reach an agreement with Israel within the next two weeks, Israel would proceed with the ground invasion.
Hamas officials replied to the Egyptians that they are prepared to defend Rafah and wouldn’t respond to Israeli threats without an agreement that meets their demands.
@SincereMandateMountain4mos4MO
Reading this reminded me of the Pottery Barn rule, famously stated by Colin Powell, "if you break it you own it". Unfortunately, in this case, Pottery Barn is the USA, Israel's surrogate. And I mean this in a financial, geopolitical and national security sense. This is, in no uncertain terms, not in the interests of the US government, or its citizens.
The problem of course is ... You and I will help pay for this one way or another no matter what Colin Powell said. It sounded good at the time but what happened is a totally different story. Please remind me again: how many billions? Same here.
@OutlyingPuddingRepublican4mos4MO
Nonsense. We didn't get Gaza into this situation, Hamas did. Israel didn't get Gaza into this situation either. For years Netanyahu has tried to create a modus vivendi with Hamas. He's allowed money transfers and other commercial transactions that provided Hamas with funds. He's made no serious effort to remove Hamas from power. Once in a while Hamas fired rockets at Israel to show Gazans it was doing something. Then Netanyahu dropped bombs on Gaza to show Israelis he was doing something. Then things went back to normal.
Netanyahu didn't take precautions again… Read more
@HumanRightsPigletRepublican4mos4MO
The IDF is learning a lesson from the Russian invasion of Ukraine - if you pierce a building with just one missile or bomb, that structure becomes unusable by anyone who might want to live there. If you strategically obliterate an entire building with a massive blow, then all the infrastructure around it is compromised.
For all the talk of a war against Hamas, this is really a war against Palestine in Gaza. By claiming a strike on their enemy, Israel is telling the Palestine that they can no longer live in Gaza.
At the same time, they are making it impossible for refugees to take shelter in the West Bank, presumably because there will be another "incident" that will mandate that the IDF strikes that territory as well.
@Mandat3RavenDemocrat4mos4MO
As a left-wing Israeli *** I am extremely critical of my government's actions, the inhumane devastation of Gaza and the colonialist violence in the west bank.
But calling 7.10 a mere "incident" is abhorrent. Let's see you call it an "incident" when terrorists enter your sovereign state, blindly murder 1200+ people, rape, torture and kidnap.
@NomineeDukeGreen4mos4MO
“A grove of trees beside the village may have been filled with land mines, prompting the army to level it, one of his subordinates said.”
Does the military that we supply with billions and billions and billions of dollars worth of money and weaponry not have a single tool that could scan the grove to see if there are land mines?
Every single claim from the soldiers is followed with a sentence about how the journalists weren’t able to see anything themselves. And yet we’re believing them. “Soldiers say”. I’m sure they’re telling the truth.
@MercifulRadicalRepublican4mos4MO
would you like to stroll through the field with a metal detector?
@9JT39X54mos4MO
I don’t agree with his statement I’m for Israel
@TautFalconGreen4mos4MO
Oh, it just warms my heart to wake up to see the unjust uses my money is being put to.
Yes, I am not the only one who will remember when election time comes around. This is a disgrace.
@A_Capitalist4mos4MO
I don't think it's fair for Biden to be telling Israel how to defend itself. I'm sure there are things Israel could have done better to avoid civilian casualties, but it is one of the few countries in the Middle East that actually does care about protecting civilians on the other side. Also I believe Israel has a right to defend itself and help free the hostages.
The united states should provide support for Palestine and call for a ceasefire
I am glad Biden is standing up to Netanyahu and putting more pressure on Israel.
@ISIDEWITH4mos4MO
@ISIDEWITH4mos4MO
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