FLASH
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The United Nations on Tuesday suspended food distribution in the southern Gaza city of Rafah due to a lack of supplies and the volatile security situation caused by Israel's expanding military operation. The United Nations warned that humanitarian operations across the territory were on the verge of collapse.
A senior United States official said Israel has responded to many of President Joe Biden's administration's concerns about plans for a ground intervention in Rafah aimed at rooting out Hamas fighters there.
President Biden had opposed a general military assault on the city filled with civilians displaced from other parts of Gaza unless the safety of innocent Palestinians was prioritized.
The US official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly. The official said the administration did not greenlight the intervention plan, but said the changes Israeli officials made indicate they are taking the US administration's concerns seriously.
Over the past two weeks, hundreds of thousands of people have left Rafah in chaos, seeking shelter in new camps or gathering in areas already devastated by previous Israeli offensives.
About 400,000 people are believed to still be in Rafah after about 900,000 others were rushed out, according to COGAT, the Israeli military office responsible for Palestinian civil affairs.
Getting aid to displaced civilians has been hampered by closed crossings, as well as problems with the US military's new floating platform, which was meant to provide an alternative sea route to get aid into Gaza.
Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters in Washington that aid deliveries from the platform had stopped in recent days but resumed Tuesday.
The UN's World Food Program said it was running out of supplies for central Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of people now live. / VOA
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