The US said Israel has not violated Joe Biden's red line even as it condemned the loss of life of dozens of civilians in the Israeli airstrike in Rafah.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Israel had not violated Biden's red line for withholding future offensive arms transfers because it has not, and it appears to the US that it will not, launch a full-scale ground invasion into the city.
He said the US does not believe Israel launched a full-scale invasion of Rafah, but described images from the aftermath of the strike "horrific".
"Everything that we can see tells us that they are not moving into a major ground operation in population centres in the centre of Rafah," Kirby said.
“There should be no innocent life lost here as a result of this conflict," Kirby said.
“We don't support, we won't support a major ground operation in Rafah. The president said that should that occur, then it might make him have to make different decisions in terms of support. We haven't seen that happen at this point. We have not seen them smash into Rafah. We have not seen them go in with large units, large numbers of troops, in columns and formations in some sort of co-ordinated manoeuvre against multiple targets on the ground," he said.
Asked whether the strike would result in any US policy changes, Kirby said, I have no policy changes to speak to.
The US state department said it was watching closely for the Israel military to hold a thorough probe into the airstrike.
