President Joe Biden threatened to withhold artillery and other weapons from Israel if it invades Rafah, the last stronghold of Hamas, a U.S.-designated Islamic terror group.
During an interview with CNN reporter Erin Burnett, Biden said he had “made it clear” that if Israel moves to invade Rafah, the United States would not supply them with “the weapons.”
“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as the consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” Biden said during the interview.
Biden’s words came after the Biden administration halted a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel last week.
#BREAKING: Biden tells CNN that he will not only continue to pause shipments of bombs to Israel, but also hold up artillery shells because what the IDF has done and wants to do is “just wrong”....
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) May 8, 2024
CNN’s Erin Burnett: “I want to ask you about something happening as we sit here… pic.twitter.com/vqxewKM7CU
“I made it clear that if they go into Rafah, they haven’t gone into Rafah yet, if they go into Rafah — I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities, to deal with that problem,” Biden said.
Biden continued to add the the U.S. would ensure Israel was “secure in terms of Iron Dome and their ability to respond to attacks.”
On Sunday, Hamas fired a barrage of rockets from Rafah toward the Kerem Shalom border crossing, which is used as the entry point for humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip.
The attack left four soldiers dead and ten others wounded.
On Monday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) urged residents in Rafah to seek safety and evacuate. The IDF dropped leaflets and used text messages and other forms of communication to urge residents to leave for the Al-Mawaasi humanitarian zone and other safe zones.
Israel’s government spokesman David Mencer warned on Monday that the warning to residents was not a bluff.
The next day, the IDF sent tanks into Rafah and seized control of the border crossing it shares with Egypt.
“It’s just wrong, we’re not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells that have been used,” Biden added.
