Politico magazine published a report by Alexander Ward in which he said that the Israeli forces’ storming of Rafah and their control of the crossing there revealed the lack of clarity in the Biden administration’s position. The administration commented on the developments that it was “clear” about the nature of the acceptable invasion of Rafah, but Israel’s “anti-terrorism” operation in the city in southern Gaza blurred the lines. On Monday night, American officials said they were “concerned” by the campaign in eastern Rafah, “which came after the evacuation of 100,000 Palestinians, but the operation did not amount to a full-scale invasion, which could put the lives of 1.4 million people at risk.”

 An American official said, “This is not what we feared,” and three officials quoted by the magazine confirmed that there would be no review of American policy with regard to Israel. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby described the operation as limited in scope, size, and time period, adding that the United States would monitor it closely.

 These statements contradict what President Joe Biden and his team emphasized that the process is a “red line.” Over the past months, the United States has emphasized, both privately and publicly, that Israel must avoid storming Rafah without having a comprehensive plan to protect civilians. Biden stressed in a call to Netanyahu in April that the deteriorating humanitarian conditions might push the United States to reconsider its policy towards Israel, which is the same message he repeated in his call with Netanyahu on Monday. However, the operation that killed 23 people and closed the Rafah crossing to humanitarian aid shows the difficulties the administration finds in implementing its red lines.

 State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said, “This does not appear to be a prelude to a major military operation,” and “We have not seen the beginning of the military operation.” He explained, “We do not know if it is a prelude or not.” The Americans privately and publicly defended the Israeli maneuver as a limited response to the operation launched by Hamas on Kerem Shalom, in which four soldiers were killed. “As part of this response, Israel took control of the Rafah crossing and closed the door to the arrival of necessary humanitarian aid,” according to the magazine’s claim.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres commented by saying that closing the two crossings is harmful to a truly dangerous humanitarian situation. Bob Kitchen, Vice President of the International Rescue Committee, said that there are more than a million civilians in inevitable danger with the cessation of the flow of humanitarian aid through the Rafah crossing and without relief trucks since May 5. Two American officials said that the administration is monitoring the situation so that the “anti-terrorism” operation does not turn into a comprehensive invasion of the city. They said Israel needed to call in more forces to confront more than 3,000 Hamas fighters in the city.

In a statement by the Israeli army on Monday night, it said it had sent troops and tanks to the area “to eliminate Hamas terrorists and dismantle Hamas’ terrorist structure,” including the tunnels. Kirby told reporters that the Israelis told them that the operation is limited and aims to limit Hamas's ability to smuggle weapons and money into Gaza, adding that the United States will work with Israel to reopen the Rafah crossing as soon as possible. Israeli officials suggest that the operation is sophisticated and aims to destroy Hamas' capabilities, according to statements by both Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Galant.

source: Sama News