The US State Department did not support an unplanned Israeli military operation in Rafah, its deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said. “We would not support the undertaking of something like this without serious and credible planning as it relates to the more than one million people who are sheltering there,” Mr Patel told reporters. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said troops will soon bear down on Rafah, a city that has become one of the last places of refuge for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
