Israel’s war in Gaza lasting until the US election is a nightmare scenario for Biden

Israeli tanks and armoured cars have been seen near al-Awda mosque in the centre of Rafah, while 45 people were killed in a strike at a camp in the east of the city. This, however, still does not mean that a “major ground operation”in the city is under way, according to the Biden administration.

The massacre at Tel al-Sultan, where many of the victims were children, the elderly and women burnt to death, was “heartbreaking and horrific” said White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby, adding: “There should be no innocent life lost here as a result of this conflict.”

The “red line” for Joe Biden, supposedly, was the killing of civilians in a Rafah operation. On 8 May, he stressed that it had been made clear to Benjamin Netanyahu that “if they [the Israeli military] go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that they have been using historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities, to deal with that problem”.