Biden to address situation in Middle East as Israel confirms its forces have entered central Rafah

President Joe Biden will deliver remarks on the situation in the Middle East later on Friday as Israel says its forces have entered central Rafah, the city in southern Gaza that Biden has warned should not be the target of a major ground offensive.

President Joe Biden will deliver remarks on the situation in the Middle East on Friday as Israel says its forces have entered central Rafah, the city in southern Gaza that Biden has warned should not be the target of a major ground offensive. The president, who returned to the White House from his beach home in Delaware earlier in the morning, has avoided commenting on the situation in Israel for several days. He has not weighed in publicly on an Israeli strike in Rafah that resulted in the deaths of dozens of civilians. The White House called images from the disaster “heartbreaking” but said the incident had not crossed Biden’s red line for withholding some US weapons shipments to Israel. Biden will be speaking as negotiations continue to secure the release of hostages in exchange for a temporary ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas. Israel recently issued a new proposal to secure the hostages’ release. The president told CNN’s Erin Burnett in an interview this month that he would limit some US arms to Israel if the country’s military “go into Rafah.” But he has remained vague about how he will quantify such a decision, leading to frustrations and a degree of confusion over his stance. Many Democrats, along with foreign leaders who the US counts as allies, say Israel’s actions clearly cross a red line – if not Biden’s, then their own and those of international law.