WASHINGTON, 25 May: A ruling by the top United Nations court ordering Israel to halt its military offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah has deepened its disconnect with the United States over an operation that faces mounting international condemnation but that American officials describe, at least for now, as limited and targeted.
\nThe decision Friday by the International Court of Justice in The Hague adds to the pressure facing an increasingly isolated Israel, coming just days after Norway, Ireland and Spain said they would recognize a Palestinian state, and the chief prosecutor of a separate international court sought arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as leaders of Hamas.
\nThe Biden administration stands apart from the global community \u2014 though it is opposed to a major offensive in Rafah, the administration also insists that the steps its close ally Israel has taken so far have not crossed red lines.
\nAdministration officials so far have appeared determined to press on with military and political support for Israel following the deadly Hamas attack it endured last October, while also pressuring its ally to avoid a full-scale military operation in densely populated Rafah.
\n\u201cWhat we have seen so far in terms of Israel\u2019s military operations in that area has been more targeted and limited, has not involved major military operations into the heart of dense urban areas,\u201d national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters at a White House briefing this week.
\nBut, he added, \u201cWe now have to see what unfolds from here.\u201d
\nA State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity to describe the administration\u2019s internal assessment of the situation, said the operation in Gaza had \u201cnot yet moved into the core heart of Rafah that gets us to the densest of dense areas.\u201d
\nEarlier this month, the White House announced it was pausing a shipment of some 3,500 bombs, including massive 2,000-pound explosives that the Biden administration said were leading to civilian deaths. President Joe Biden warned during a CNN interview that \u201cif they go into Rafah, I\u2019m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah.\u201d
\nU.S. officials in pressuring Israel had suggested that a major operation was a red line that would undermine stalled negotiations on a deal to return Israeli hostages taken by Hamas and would lead Biden to further dial back what weaponry he would send Israel.
\nBut the tone at the White House seemed to take a notable shift this week after Sullivan returned from a visit to Israel, where he said he had been briefed on \u201crefinements\u201d in the Israeli plan to root out Hamas in Rafah, and to Saudi Arabia.
\nDuring Sullivan\u2019s talks with Netanyahu and other officials during the trip, the Israeli side addressed many of Biden\u2019s concerns about its plans for Rafah, according to a senior administration official who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.
\nThe official said the administration stopped short of greenlighting the Israeli plan but Israeli officials\u2019 altered planning suggested they were taking Biden\u2019s concerns seriously.
\nThat assessment may be of little consolation to Palestinians still trapped in Rafah \u2014 the southernmost part of the Gaza Strip on the border with Egypt, and the site of a critical crossing for aid. More than 1 million people sought refuge there in recent months after escaping fighting elsewhere but some 900,000 have since fled the city.
\nIsrael has brought hundreds of trucks in through the other main border crossing, Kerem Shalom, but the U.N. and aid groups say Israeli military operations make it dangerous for them to pick up food, water and other supplies for starving Palestinians. (AP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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