White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Thursday that an Israeli attack on Hamas in Rafah, the last city in Gaza before the Egyptian border, would be a “disaster” under current conditions, adding: “We will not support it.” said.
Rafah is the last stronghold of the terrorist organization Hamas and is key to control of the Gaza Strip, allowing Hamas to smuggle weapons across the border. There is also the possibility that Hamas leaders could take the hostages and flee to Iran or other countries.
Israeli leaders have said for several days that they are preparing for it.
On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in Hebrew and English: “Our soldiers are currently in Khan Yunis, a major Hamas stronghold. They will soon break into Rafah, Hamas’ last stronghold. It will do so by providing safe passage, and it will do so despite Hamas’s sinister attempts to evict civilians at gunpoint.”
Nevertheless, Kirby told reporters at a White House briefing that the US has no indication that Israel is preparing such an operation.
He said an Israeli attack in Rafah would endanger the approximately 1 million Palestinian civilians displaced from the northern and central Gaza Strip. (Egypt won’t let them leave, and no other Arab country will offer them temporary refuge. (Not exercised.)
Mr Kirby did not rule out the possibility of an attack that did not pose a risk to civilians, but reiterated that he did not see that possibility.
Israel considers removing Hamas from Rafah one of the most important steps towards winning and ending the war. The White House’s opposition to the attack in Rafah therefore appears to indicate that it prioritizes Israel losing and Hamas survival.
Joel B. Pollack is a senior editor at Breitbart News. Breitbart News Sunday Sunday nights from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM ET (4:00 PM to 7:00 PM PT) on Sirius XM Patriot. He is the author of the recent book, The Zionist Conspiracy (And How to Participate in It), now available on Audible. He is also the author of an e-book. Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 US Presidential Election. He is the recipient of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter @joelpolak.
