US: No Change in Military Support for ‘Israel’ despite Rafah Carnage

In press briefings on Tuesday, multiple administration officials described the “Israeli” massacre in Rafah as “heartbreaking” but claimed that the assault, which left dozens of Palestinians martyred, was an airstrike and not a major ground operation.

“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 spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.

“As a result of this strike on Sunday, I have no policy changes to speak to,” Kirby added. “It just happened. The ‘Israelis’ are going to investigate it. We’re going to be taking great interest in what they find in that investigation. And we’ll see where it goes from there.”

The White House spokesperson said that “no civilian casualties is the right number of civilian casualties,” but he acknowledged innocent people are often killed in war.

“There’s not like a measuring stick here or a quota,” he said, when asked if there were a number of civilian deaths that would prompt action from the US. “As we’ve said many times, the right number of civilian casualties is zero.”

Despite providing “Israel” with untrammeled support over the past eight months, the White House claims to have urged “Israel” against sending forces into Rafah without a clear plan to evacuate civilians safely.

In another presser on Tuesday, a Pentagon official said Sunday’s airstrike, which was the deadliest incident in Rafah did not amount to what the White House has warned against.

“It is still our assessment that what is happening in Rafah and what the [‘Israeli’ military] are doing, it is limited in scope.” Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters.