US Says Rafah Massacre Won’t Change Its Support for Israel

The Biden administration made clear on Tuesday that the Israeli bombing of a tent camp in Rafah that killed 45 displaced Palestinians, including many women and children, would not change US support for Israel.

Both the White House and the State Department claimed Israeli operations in Rafah are not the “full-scale” assault that the US claims it would oppose even as Israeli tanks push further into the city, and the UN says around one million Palestinians have fled Rafah.

“We still don’t believe that a major ground operation in Rafah is warranted. We still don’t want to see the Israelis, as we say, smash into Rafah with large units over large pieces of territory. We still believe that, and we haven’t seen that at this point,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said. “As a result of this strike on Sunday, I have no policy changes to speak to.”