After the Rafah strike, the US demanded that Israel take measures to protect civilians

Photo: Palestinians at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced persons in Rafah on May 27. 2024

The Joe Biden administration has demanded that Israel take every precaution to protect civilians after a military strike in Rafah killed dozens of Palestinians.

The demand was made against the backdrop of calls from some Biden party members, Democrats, to stop military supplies to Israel, the Voice of America reports.

“Israel has the right to persecute Hamas, and we understand that as a result of this strike two senior Hamas terrorists responsible for attacks on Israeli citizens have died– said a spokesman for the National Security Council. – But we have made it clear that Israel must take all possible precautions to protect civilians.”

Even before the strike on Sunday, May 26, which set tents on fire at the Rafah camp and rickety metal shelters and the deaths of 45 people, Biden faced growing pressure from members of his own party to cut support for Israel.

Influential House Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Monday called the strike an “unjustifiable atrocity.”

“It's long past time for the President to make good on his word to withhold military aid,” &ndash ; she wrote on the social network.

"Terrible and heartbreaking images came from Rafah last night, – said Representative Ayanna Presley on social media. – How much longer will the US stand by while the Israeli military kills and maims Palestinian babies?'

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American lawmaker in Congress, called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “genocidal maniac.” Netanyahu said Monday that harming civilians was not the intent of the strike. , but “events have taken a tragic turn.”

A National Security Council spokesman said the U.S. government is “actively engaged” with Israeli troops and others on the scene to assess what happened.

Nearly half of Democratic voters disapprove of Biden's handling of the Israeli-Hamas war, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll.< /p>

Weeks of protests on college campuses have added to that pressure, and broader demands for a permanent ceasefire have put the Biden campaign on the defensive.

Prepared by Sergei Daga