Israel strikes Rafah after US warning against expanding ground offensive to overcrowded city

Israel struck the southern Gaza city of Rafah, following a warning from Biden administration officials and aid agencies to Israel against expanding its ground offensive to there, according to The Associated Press.

Airstrikes, occurring overnight and into Friday, struck two residential buildings in the southern city. In central Gaza, two other places were bombed, including a kindergarten that had become a shelter for those who were displaced. AP journalists who saw bodies coming into hospitals reported that 22 people were killed.

On Thursday, President Biden gave some of his most forceful criticisms of Israel’s actions in Gaza in remarks from the White House.

“I’m of the view, as you know, that the conduct of the response in Gaza Strip has been over the top,” the president said.

Biden said he had pushed the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, whom he accidentally called the “president of Mexico,” to open gates for humanitarian aid to make its way into Gaza.