The US is circulating a UN Security Council resolution warning Israel against a “major ground offensive” into Rafah, the city in Gaza near the Egyptian border where about 1.5mn people are sheltering from the conflict elsewhere in the enclave.
The move represents rare criticism of Israel by the US at the UN, reflecting President Joe Biden’s frustration with the conduct of the Israeli government’s war in Gaza and high death toll among Palestinian civilians — and as the planned attack on Rafah becomes a potential breaking point for Washington.
The US move in the UN also comes as Biden faces growing pressure internationally from key US allies and domestically from influential lawmakers within the Democratic party to persuade Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to wind down the war in favour of a more limited counter-terrorism strategy against Hamas.