Biden Says US Will Withhold Weapons From Israel if It Launches Major Military Offensive in Rafah

US President Joe Biden on Wednesday publicly warned Israel for the first time that the US would stop supplying it weapons if Israeli forces launch a major military offensive in Rafah, a refugee-packed city and the Hamas terror group’s last stronghold in Gaza.

“I made it clear that 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 — that deal with that problem,” Biden said in an interview with CNN.

Biden‘s comments represent his strongest public language to date in his effort to deter an Israeli assault on Rafah while underscoring a growing rift between the US and its strongest ally in the Middle East.

Biden said US weapons used by Israel have killed civilians in Gaza.

“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” he said when asked about 2,000-pound bombs sent to Israel.

Hamas terrorists have been embedding themselves in the civilian population in Gaza and using civilian sites — such as hospitals — as command and operational centers.

Still, a senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Washington had carefully reviewed the delivery of weapons that might be used in Rafah and as a result paused a shipment consisting of 1,800 2,000-pound (907-kg) bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs.

Israel‘s UN ambassador, Gilad Erdan, earlier this week called Washington’s decision to delay shipments “very disappointing” although he did not believe the US would stop supplying arms to Israel.

Hamas, which rules Gaza, started the ongoing war with its Oct. 7 invasion of southern Israel, where Hamas terrorists murdered 1,200 people and abducted 252 others as hostages. Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and incapacitating Hamas to the point that the Palestinian terror group can no longer pose a major threat to the Israeli people from Gaza.

Israel this week attacked Rafah, where more than one million Palestinians have sought refuge, but Biden said he did not consider Israel’s strikes a full-scale invasion because they have not struck “population centers.” Israeli officials have said Hamas battalions are holed up in Rafah,

The Biden interview was released hours after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin acknowledged publicly Biden’s decision last week to hold up the delivery of thousands of heavy bombs was taken out of concern for Rafah, where Washington opposes a major Israeli invasion without sufficient civilian safeguards.

The United States is by far the biggest supplier of weapons to Israel, and it accelerated deliveries after the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks.

In 2016, the US and Israeli governments signed a third 10-year Memorandum of Understanding that provides $38 billion in military aid over the 10 years, $33 billion in grants to buy military equipment and $5 billion for missile defense system. Last month, congress approved $26 billion in additional funding for Israel.

Biden said the US would continue to provide defensive weapons to Israel, including for its Iron Dome air defense system.

“We’re going to continue to make sure Israel is secure in terms of Iron Dome and their ability to respond to attacks that came out of the Middle East recently,” he said. “But it’s, it’s just wrong. We’re not going to — we’re not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells.”