This is an excerpt from Security Briefing, Al-Monitor's weekly newsletter covering defense and conflict developments in the Middle East. To get Security Briefing in your inbox, sign up here.
The White House is ducking a public confrontation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his vow to launch a military incursion into Rafah.
Asked by MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart on Saturday whether an Israeli military push into the southern Gaza city without a plan to protect more than a million civilians sheltered there would be a “red line” for his administration, President Joe Biden responded in the affirmative.
But the president implied he would not restrict military aid to Israel if its leaders launch such an operation. On Tuesday, the White House threw cold water on news reports that his administration was considering doing so.
