By Claire Parker, Annabelle Timsit and Bryan Pietsch, The Washington PostPalestinian residents and emergency services members inspect the site of the Zorob family home, which was hit overnight in Rafah in December.
But in May, the administration elected for the first time to pause a shipment of thousands of weapons to Israel, including 2,000-pound bombs, amid mounting concern about the country’s plan to expand a military operation in Rafah, a densely packed area of southern Gaza.and ammunition from Israel — a claim that caused bewilderment among some administration officials.“We genuinely do not know what he is talking about,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told journalists Tuesday.
Netanyahu is under pressure at home, where dissatisfaction is growing over his handling of the war in Gaza and what critics say is his refusal to commit to a cease-fire deal that would secure the release of 120 hostages still being held in Hamas captivity in Gaza. Thousands demonstrated against Netanyahu and his government in Jerusalem on Monday and Tuesday, demanding early elections and a hostage deal in the first of several protests scheduled for this week.
The group set out to assess whether Israeli attacks in Gaza followed the principles in international law of “proportionality, distinction, precaution and necessity,” Ajith Sunghay, head of the Palestinian territories branch of the U.N. agency, said in a news conference Wednesday. The U.N. agency also criticized Palestinian militants Wednesday for embedding weapons or personnel among the civilian population in Gaza.