US yet to see major Israeli military operation in Rafah: State Department

By Servet Gunerigok

WASHINGTON (AA) - The US said Thursday that it has not yet seen a major Israeli military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from Israel's war before it was invaded on May 6.

Speaking during press briefing, State Department Spokesman Matt Miller said Washington is watching the ongoing operation "incredibly closely.”

"We still have not yet seen them (Israel) launch what looks like a full-scale major military operation, certainly not in the size, scope or scale of the operations in Khan Younis, in Gaza City, elsewhere in Gaza," said Miller.

He said the current operation "has been a more limited operation," which had "a dramatic impact" on the civilian population.

"We've seen hundreds of thousands of people, maybe a million, or a little more than a million, people who have left Rafah and fled west and fled north, and we continue to work to try to get humanitarian assistance to those people," he said.

"But just in terms of the operation itself, it does still look like some of the different operations at the time that we had seen previously and that we have warned very much against publicly," he added.

Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

More than 37,200 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and over 84,900 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Over eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in Rafah.

*Michael Hernandez contributed to the story