Biden said he would stop sending bombs and artillery shells to Israel if it launched a major invasion of Rafah

Biden said he would stop sending bombs and artillery shells to Israel if it launched a major invasion of Rafah

President Joe Biden said for the first time on Wednesday he would halt some shipments of American weapons to Israel – which he admits have been used to kill civilians in Gaza – if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a massive invasion of the town of Rafah.

“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a result of those bombs and the other way they’ve gone after population centers,” Biden told CNN’s Erin Burnett in an exclusive interview, referring to the 2,000-pound bomb that Biden stopped shipping last week.
“I made it clear that if they go to Rafah – they haven’t gone to Rafah yet – if they go to Rafah, I’m not supplying weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the city – that deal with that problem,” said Biden.
The president’s announcement that he was prepared to impose American weaponry on Israel’s actions was a turning point in the seven-month conflict between Israel and Hamas. And his admission that American bombs have been used to kill civilians in Gaza is a clear acknowledgment of the United States’ role in the war.

The president has come under tremendous pressure, including from members of his own party, to limit arms shipments amid the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

The US has already halted shipments of “high payload munitions” because of possible Israeli operations in Rafah without plans for civilians there, according to the Pentagon, although it said a final decision on the shipments had not been made. The administration said it was reviewing possible sales or transfers of other munitions.