Latest Israel-Hamas war news and Gaza updates: Biden renews call to protect civilians in Rafah

President Biden, speaking beside King Abdullah II of Jordan after a meeting at the White House, reiterated that the United States would not support a major Israeli military operation in Rafah without a credible plan for civilian safety. But he stopped short of calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, unlike Abdullah, who added: “We cannot afford an Israeli attack on Rafah. It is certain to create another humanitarian catastrophe.” The majority of Gazans have fled to the southern city of Rafah, near the Egyptian border, to escape brutal warfare elsewhere in the Gaza Strip.