57 House Democrats urge Biden to prevent Israeli offensive in Rafah

Light illuminates the minarets of al-Taiba mosque at sunset before the tents of displaced Palestinians at a camp in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on April 30, 2024. (AFP)
Light illuminates the minarets of al-Taiba mosque at sunset before the tents of displaced Palestinians at a camp in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on April 30, 2024. (AFP)

US President Joe Biden’s administration is facing renewed pressure from his fellow Democrats to influence Israel not to launch a full-scale invasion of Rafah, the city where almost half of the Gaza Strip’s 2.3 million people have taken refuge.

Fifty-seven of the 212 Democrats in the House of Representatives signed a letter calling on the administration to take every possible measure to dissuade Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government from an all-out assault on the city near the Egyptian border.

“We urge you to invoke existing law and policy to immediately withhold certain offensive military aid to the Israeli government, including aid sourced from legislation already signed into law, in order to preempt a full-scale assault on Rafah,” says the letter.

The White House has not immediately responded to a request for comment on the letter, which was led by Representatives Pramila Jayapal and Madeleine Dean.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said earlier today that he had still not seen a plan for Israel’s promised offensive on Rafah that would protect civilians, repeating that Washington could not support such an assault without such a plan.

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