China has continued showing its disapproval of Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip, which has also been consistent with Russian denunciations, and of course Iran's position too.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Tuesday issued a scathing condemnation of the Israeli assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, and urged Tel Aviv to immediately halt all operations. It comes a day after an elite Israeli counterterror team was able to free two Israeli hostages during high-risk operations there.
"China is closely watching the developments in Rafah," a foreign ministry spokesperson stated. "We oppose and condemn acts against civilians and international law. We call on Israel to stop military operations as soon as possible, do everything possible to avoid casualties among innocent civilians, and prevent a more devastating humanitarian disaster in Rafah."
Regional reports say that Monday alone saw over 40 airstrikes on Rafah, which reportedly killed more than a hundred people. There are common estimates that over one million refugees have surged into the city bordering Egypt during the last months of intense fighting elsewhere in the Strip.
A Hamas statement had described the "The Nazi occupation army’s attack on the city of Rafah tonight … which [has] claimed the lives of more than a hundred martyrs so far, is considered a continuation of the genocidal war and the attempts at forced displacement it is waging against our Palestinian people."
A bigger full ground invasion is still expected, with humanitarian groups also warning of a looming humanitarian catastrophe, already as the Palestinian death toll since Oct.7 is close to 30,000 - according to Gaza health ministry figures.
Israel, following recent days of pressure from Washington and other allies, has sought to assure that it will seek to evacuate those civilians willing to leave Rafah before the full assault begins. IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi in a Tuesday press briefing said, "We know that it is more difficult for us to fight in an environment where there are over a million people and another 10,000 Hamas operatives."
"In previous parts of the war, we sought to isolate the population. We have the capabilities to do it. We did it in Gaza City. We did it in Khan Younis. We did it in the central camps [of Gaza]," Halevi said.
Meanwhile an interesting new gaffe out of President Biden...
"I am saying here that the residents of Rafah will be allowed to evacuate the area. It is not right for the citizens, for the residents, for the families, to be in the area of fighting. When will it happen? How will it happen? We will decide when the time comes," he added.
But some have accused Israeli officials of simply floating false hopes and rhetoric in order to calm Western allies, particularly the US. In Europe there's a move to prevent more arms from reaching Israel amid accusations of mass human rights violations, also as the Netherlands has been forced by a court to temporarily halt transfers of F-35 parts.
Via zerohedge
Throughout the months-long brutal Israeli bombing campaign against Gaza and the accompanying ground assault, President Biden has been consistent in refusing calls (including within Congress) to impose conditions on US-supplied weaponry used by Israel.
Already at least one European country and NATO member has halted weapon supply transfers to Israel on fears they could be used for war crimes or to violate Palestinians' human rights. But all eyes remain on Washington, which remains the Israeli military's biggest supplier of deadly arms and munitions by far. Is the Biden administration finally about to change course? Or is it more of the same premature signaling for the sake of calming an international (and domestic) audience's concern?
The U.S. is investigating several Israeli airstrikes in Gaza that killed dozens of civilians and the possible use by Israel of white phosphorus in Lebanon, as part of a probe by the State Department to determine whether America’s closest ally has misused its bombs and missiles to kill civilians, U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal.
That the US would begin to look at alleged white phosphorus use in Lebanon comes very late, given that as early as mid-October Human Rights Watch said it verified videos of the internationally banned munition in use by Israeli forces. However HRW noted at the time white phosphorus can be used "either for marking, signaling, and obscuring or as a weapon to set fires that burn people and objects."
Israel has rejected the allegations that it is using 'illegal' munitions, and the Biden administration has thus far been content with the denials, or else has just shrugged off the reports. This was on display in an October appearance by national security advisor Jake Sullivan on NBC News’ Meet the Press.
"I have seen the reports of that. The IDF has actually come out and said they were not using phosphorus bombs. I’m not going to sit here… and draw red lines," Sullivan said at the time. "I was asked this same question at the White House podium a few days ago, and I said, 'You know, it’s not my job in public to draw red lines.'"
The White House has maintained this policy ever since; however, last week President Biden for the first time sharply criticized Israel's military campaign as "over the top" - leading to some serious confusion given the US is arming this very operation.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded, "I don't know exactly what he [Biden] meant by that, but put yourself in Israel's shoes. We were attacked. Unprovoked attack, murderous attack on Oct. 7." He added: "I think we've responded in a way that goes after the terrorists and tries to minimize the civilian population in which the terrorists embed themselves and use them as human shields."
Despite the "over the top" remark, which seems an outlier talking point from the administration, Biden has remained supportive of Israel's 'counterterror' mission, but what's clear is that he's feeling the pressure headed into the November election.
The Wednesday WSJ report details another strike which has come under US scrutiny as follows: "One attack the State Department is currently investigating is an Oct. 31 airstrike on the densely populated Jabalia refugee camp near Gaza City that killed more than 125 people, the U.S. officials said."
Biden aides have admitted "missteps"... or rather this is about trying to quietly appease angry and disappointed progressive voters:
Israel has explained that a Hamas commander was hiding in a tunnel underneath a high-rise building, hence the large-scale devastation given civilians were also in buildings which were destroyed in the process of seeking him out.
And for another inquiry, the WSJ report documents that "Weapons investigators suspect that Israel used a 2,000-pound bomb in the strike, which could have been provided by the U.S. The United Nations Human Rights Office said that the strike killed a large number of civilians and could be a war crime."
Palestinian sources say the death toll since October has gone past 28,000 Gazans killed, with most of these being civilians, including an estimated 12,300 children and teens, according to the Gaza health ministry. Increasingly European Union officials are also voicing their outrage, and despite most of the West expressing solidarity with Israel's plight in the wake of the Oct.7 Hamas terror attack which killed over 1,200 Israelis, the tide of public opinion is now turning against Israel (and Biden too).
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