Gaza: US Says It Will Not Back Rafah Offensive

The US has warned Israel that staging a military offensive into Gaza’s Southern city of Rafah without proper planning would be a “disaster”.

The White House said it would not support plans for any major operations in Rafah 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.

More than half of Gaza’s people now live in the city bordering Egypt.

Some 1.5 million Palestinians are surviving there in dire humanitarian conditions.

Israel bombed parts of Rafah from the air on Thursday morning and Israeli tanks reportedly also opened fire.

Emad, 55, a father of six sheltering in Rafah after fleeing his home elsewhere, was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying his greatest fear was a ground assault with nowhere left to run.

“We have our backs to the [border] fence and faces toward the Mediterranean,” he said. “Where should we go?”

Much of northern and central Gaza has been reduced to ruins by sustained Israeli bombardment since the war began on 7 October.

Speaking without referring to Rafah, US President Joe Biden said Israel’s actions in Gaza had been “over the top”.

US National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby said “military operations right now would be a disaster for those people and it’s not something that we would support,” adding that the US had not seen anything to suggest Israel was going to launch a major operation in Rafah imminently.

BBC