Israel has captured the Rafah border crossing with tanks and troops and begun air strikes. Israel says that they are targeting Hamas but residential homes were hit and at least 23 Palestinians were killed.
Israel says that they have killed approximately 20 Hamas fighters and that Rafah had been used for “terrorist operations” but they have provided no evidence of this. Given the long lead time for this attack, it stands to reason Hamas was not a readily available target.
How can aid be delivered to survivors now? Rafah was one of the only functioning aid delivery port but now it is not.
As awful as this is, the U.S. says that it’s not as bad as they’d feared. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Israel gave the U.S. assurances that this is an “an operation of limited scale and duration.” Does that make you feel better?
Kirby said that a ceasefire may still be brokered after Israel rejected a ceasefire that Hamas agreed to. “Everybody is coming to the table,” Kirby said. But it will be too late for many civilians.
