Israel Gaza: Rafah offensive not a major operation, US says

Mr Kirby told journalists that images from Sunday’s strike, which killed mostly women, children and elderly people, were “heartbreaking” and “horrific”.

“There should be no innocent life lost here as a result of this conflict,” he added.

But he acknowledged that Israel was investigating the incident and said he had “no policy changes to speak to” following the recent events in Rafah.

“We still don’t believe a major ground operation is warranted… and we haven’t seen that at this point,” he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described Sunday’s strike as a “tragic mishap”, while vowing to continue the Rafah operation.

But the Israeli military said it was investigating the possibility that the fire was caused by the explosion of weapons stored by Hamas in the vicinity of the strike, which had targeted and killed two senior Hamas officials.

US President Joe Biden has made it clear that a full-scale Israeli offensive in Rafah would be crossing a red line, and said earlier this month that some arms supplies to Israel would be halted in the event of a major ground operation in the city.

The Israeli military said on Tuesday that its troops were continuing activities against “terror targets” in Rafah, three weeks after it launched the ground operation there.

Witnesses said Israeli tanks were stationed at al-Awda roundabout, which is considered a key landmark.

Western areas of the city came under intense bombardment overnight on Monday into Tuesday, residents said.

The Israeli military has denied reports on Tuesday that its tank shells hit another tent camp in al-Mawasi, on the coast west of Rafah, which local officials said had killed at least 21 people.

Videos of the incident posted to social media and analysed by BBC Verify showed multiple people with serious injuries.

There was no clear sign of a blast zone or crater, making it impossible to ascertain the cause of the incident. The location – verified through reference to surrounding buildings – is between Rafah and al-Mawasi, and lies south of the Israeli military’s designated humanitarian zone.