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Friday saw the United States release a scathing critique of Israel’s use of American munitions in the Gaza conflict, following an increase in Israeli forces’ activity near the southern city of Rafah, which is providing shelter to over a million displaced people.
The principal foreign friend of Israel declared that it was “reasonable to assess” that throughout the seven-month conflict, Israel had employed weaponry in ways that were not compliant with international humanitarian law, but it was unable to come to “conclusive findings” and refrained from obstructing supplies.
Following US President Joe Biden’s promise to stop some military sales if Israel carried out Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s threat of a full-scale attack on Rafah, relations between the two allies deteriorated earlier this week.
The United States of America has cautioned Israel that any potential military advantage will be much outweighed by the harm to its reputation should it storm a city where an estimated 1.4 million civilians are seeking refuge.
France asked Israel to stop its activities in Rafah “without delay,” while UN chief Antonio Guterres warned that a full-scale ground campaign by Israel would put Gaza in danger of an “epic humanitarian disaster.”
The prime minister of Israel has stated time and time again that without deploying ground forces into Rafah to hunt down any remaining Hamas fighters, Israel will never be able to destroy Hamas and ensure that the terrorist organization never carries out its horrific October 7 attack.
On Thursday, Netanyahu said in a combative manner, “If we have to stand alone, we will stand alone.”
While reiterating its objections, the White House claimed to have not yet seen any significant operations against the city.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters, “We’re obviously watching it with concern, of course, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say what we’ve seen here in the last 24 hours connotes or indicates a broad, large (or) major ground operation.”
Although they haven’t yet entered the city’s major populated area, Israeli ground forces earlier this week captured eastern parts of the city, including the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza.
The Israeli army reported that operations were still underway in the city’s east on Friday when AFP correspondents saw artillery attacks on the city.
The health ministry of the Hamas-run enclave in Gaza reports that at least 34,943 individuals have died as a result of Israel’s retaliatory offensive, the majority of them were women and children.
Source- AFP
