Israel has maintained that victory in its "war" on Gaza, which was launched by Netanyahu after Hamas’s October 7 seige and kidnapping spree on October 7, is impossible without taking Rafah, which the Israeli government considers as the last Hamas bastion.
As the 'All Eyes On Rafah' social media campaign grows amid global outrage against Israel's assault on the southern Gaza city and the recent airstrike that killed dozens of civilians, the White House said that the Israeli attacks had not violated Biden's “red line” yet.
According to Palestinian health officials, at least 45 people, around half of them women and children, were killed after a refugee camp sheltering them caught fire that was triggered by an Israeli strike in Rafah on Sunday, sparking global outrage.
It was a densely populated tent camp housing displaced people.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there was a “tragic mishap" on Sunday and the military said it was investigating the Israeli military said an initial investigation into the strike that sparked the fire in the tent camp has found the blaze was caused by a secondary explosion.
Israel said the strike was carried out to target two leaders of Hamas.
The White House on Tuesday condemned the loss of life of dozens of civilians as a result of the Israeli airstrike in Rafah, but said it is not planning any policy changes as a result of the Israeli actions.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters that Israel had not violated Biden's “red line” for withholding future offensive arms transfers because it has not, and it appears to the US that it will not, launch a full-scale ground invasion into the city, according to an Associated Press report.
“Everything that we can see tells us that they are not moving into a major ground operation in population centres in the centre of Rafah," the AP report quoted Kirby as saying.
Kirby called the loss of life “heartbreaking” and “horrific”, and said the US was monitoring the results of an Israeli investigation into the strike, which suggested the civilian deaths were the result of a secondary explosion after a successful strike on two Hamas operatives.
“We understand that this strike did kill two senior Hamas heads who are directly responsible for attacks,” Kirby said. “We've also said many times Israel must take every precaution possible to do more to protect innocent life.”
Israel has maintained that victory in its "war" on Gaza, which was launched by Netanyahu after Hamas’s October 7 seige and kidnapping spree on October 7, is impossible without taking Rafah, which the Israeli government considers as the last Hamas bastion.
Rafah, a city abutted by Egypt, at present is home to a million Palestinians who fled Israeli offensive through the rest of Gaza.
Netanyahu has vowed to press ahead, saying Israeli forces must enter Rafah to dismantle Hamas and return hostages taken in the October 7 attack. Israel says it is carrying out limited operations in eastern Rafah along the Gaza-Egypt border.
Israel's assault on Gaza began when Hamas, a Palestenian militant group, and other militants breached into southern Israel in a surprise attack on October 7 last year, killing some 1,200 civilians and abducting around 250.
More than 100 were released during a weeklong cease-fire in November in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
Israel shortly after declared a "war" and responded to the attack with a massive air, land and sea offensive that has killed at least 36,096 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its count. Around 80 per cent of Gaza's population of 2.3 million has been displaced and United Nations officials say parts of the territory are experiencing famine.
Israeli shelling and airstrikes killed at least 37 people, most of them sheltering in tents, outside the southern Gaza city of Rafah overnight and on Tuesday as well, badgering the same area where strikes triggered the deadly fire days earlier in the camp for displaced Palestinians.
Israel's assault continues amid the 'All eyes on Rafah' social media campaign which has been growing parallely in solidarity with the Palestinians affected by the strikes. 'All Eyes On Rafah' is a phrase that refers to the ongoing genocide in this Gaza city.
Scores of social media users and several celebrities have shared support messages with the hashtag #AllEyesOnRafah. The phrase has picked up steam as a call for awareness of the ongoing war.
Meanwhile, the results of Israel's initial probe into the fire were issued Tuesday, with military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari saying the cause of the fire was still under investigation but that the munitions used — targeting what the army said was a position with two senior Hamas militants — were too small to be the source.
Rear Adm Daniel Hagari, the chief military spokesman, said Tuesday that the military fired two 17-kg (37-pound) munitions that targeted two senior Hamas militants. Hagari said the munitions would have been too small to ignite a fire on their own and the military is looking into the possibility that weapons were stored in the area.
The Israeli assault in Rafah has made it nearly impossible for humanitarian groups to import and distribute aid to southern Gaza even though the Israel military says it has allowed hundreds of trucks to enter through the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing since the start of its operation.
Aid groups have said it's extremely difficult to access that aid on the Gaza side because of the fighting.
The UN said it has only been able to collect aid from around 170 trucks over the past three weeks via Kerem Shalom, according to the AP report.
Smaller amounts of aid are entering through two crossings in the north and by sea through a US-built floating pier, but it's nowhere near the 600 trucks a day that aid groups say are needed.