In March, as Israel threatened to invade Rafah in southern Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had been sheltering, President Joe Biden acknowledged that if Israel invaded the city, it would be crossing “a red line.”

It was Biden’s first public acknowledgement that any “red line,” limits, or conditions existed for U.S. support for Israel. In May, Biden followed up by halting the transfer of 2,000-pound and 500-pound bombs to Israel in an effort to limit civilian casualties in Rafah.

Yousef Munayyer, a political analyst who heads the Palestine/Israel Program at the Arab Center Washington D.C., called Biden’s approach to Israel “a no-restraints policy,” referring to comments made by White House national security spokesperson John Kirby, in the first month of the war, saying the U.S. has no red lines for Israel. Related Israel’s Year of Killing, Maiming, Starving, and Terrorizing the People of Gaza

“And I think that has been the most consistent message from the White House,” Munayyer said. “It’s been received very clearly by the Israelis, there are no red lines, and it seems that every step the Israelis are taking where they push beyond what they’ve done before, whether it’s starting to target hospitals, and then obliterating them completely, doing the same with universities, aid workers, journalists — every line has been crossed because there has been no pushback whatsoever.”