National Security Council spokesman John Kirby speaks during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, May 28, 2024. AP
An Israeli strike Sunday killed 45 civilian Palestinians as a blaze tore through a camp for displaced people.
But Washington does not believe that Israel's attacks on Rafah amount to a full-scale operation that would breach Biden's "red lines," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.
"As a result of this strike on Sunday I have no policy changes to speak to," Kirby told a White House briefing. "It just happened, the Israelis are going to investigate it."
Kirby added however that "this is not something that we've turned a blind eye to" when asked "how many charred corpses" it would take for Biden to change course on the issue.
Witnesses told AFP that Israeli tanks were stationed in the center of Rafah on Tuesday, after intense fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian resistance in recent weeks.
But under repeated questioning Kirby insisted that the president was not "moving the stick" on how to define a major military offensive against Rafah.
"We have not seen them smash into Rafah," he added.
"We have not seen them go in with large units, large numbers of troops, in columns and formations in some sort of coordinated maneuver against multiple targets on the ground."
No to ICC sanctions
The Pentagon had earlier said that it considers Israel's assault on Rafah as "limited in scope."
Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh also said the administration was waiting for the Israeli military to conclude its investigation into Sunday's strike before commenting further.
"We certainly take seriously what happened over the weekend. We've all seen the images. They're absolutely horrific," Singh added.
Earlier US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Israel's preliminary investigation claimed that the strike was carried out using "the smallest bomb in their arsenal."
The White House also said it did not support calls from Republicans in Congress for sanctions against the International Criminal Court after its prosecutor sought an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"We don't believe that sanctions against the ICC is the right approach here," Kirby said, although he added that the United States still did not believe the war crimes court had jurisdiction.
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