By Jarrett Renshaw and Moira Warburton
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Biden administration has ordered Israel to take all precautions to protect civilians after a military strike in Rafah killed dozens of Palestinians, as it faces calls from some fellow Democrats to halt military shipments to Israel to stop.
“Israel has the right to go after Hamas, and we understand that this attack killed two key Hamas terrorists responsible for attacks on Israeli civilians,” a National Security Council spokesperson said. “But as we have been clear, Israel must take every possible precaution to protect civilians.
Biden has faced mounting pressure from his own party to scale back support for Israel, even before Sunday night’s airstrike that set fire to tents and rickety metal shelters at a Rafah camp, killing 45 people .
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a leading Democratic lawmaker in the House of Representatives, on Monday called the strike “an indefensible atrocity,” adding in a social media post that “it is long past time for the president to to make good on our word and suspend the strike.” military aid.”
“Horrific and heartbreaking images emerged from Rafah last night,” Rep. Ayanna Pressley said in a social media post. “How long will the US stand by while the Israeli army slaughters and mutilates Palestinian babies?”
Representative Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American serving in Congress, called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “genocidal maniac.”
Netanyahu said on Monday that the attack was not intended to cause civilian casualties but “went tragically wrong.”
The NSC spokesman said the US government was “actively working” with the Israeli military and others on the ground to assess what happened.
Nearly half of Democratic voters disapprove of Biden’s handling of the war between Israel and Hamas, according to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll.
Weeks of campus protests over the war have increased pressure, and broader demands for a permanent ceasefire have put Biden’s reelection campaign on the defensive.
(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw and Moira Warburton; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Andrea Ricci and Stephen Coates)
