Should Israel undertake a significant attack in Rafah, Biden threatens to stop sending additional American arms to that country

May 9, Washington, US President Joe Biden issued a severe warning to Israel on Wednesday (local time), stating that if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorized a large-scale assault on Rafah, he would stop certain US arms supplies to Israel, CNN reported.

Biden said that the weapons may possibly be employed in the operation to target the population centers. This is the first time he has made a comment of this kind.

Speaking of the 2,000-pound bombs that Biden stopped shipments of last week, “Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” Biden said to CNN’s Erin Burnett in an exclusive interview.

“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—that deal with that problem,” Biden said.

The president’s announcement that he was prepared to link American weapons to Israel’s actions marked a turning point in the seven-month conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Even within his own party, the president is under tremendous pressure to limit weapons supplies in the midst of a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

According to CNN, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Wednesday that the US is halting the transfer of “high-payload munitions” to Israel in the midst of the ongoing ground battle in Rafah since the operation has no plans for the people who currently reside in the area.

At a Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee hearing, Defense Secretary Austin stated, “We’re going to continue to do what’s necessary to ensure that Israel has the means to defend itself, but that said, we are currently reviewing some near-term security assistance shipments in the context of unfolding events in Rafah.”

Austin’s comments coincide with an increase in airstrikes and the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office’s affirmation that military operations in Rafah would continue in order to “exert military pressure on Hamas.”

“We’ve been very clear… that Israel shouldn’t launch a major attack into Rafah without accounting for and protecting the civilians that are in that battlespace,” Austin told CNN.

Austin emphasized further that the supplemental budget package, which Congress just passed and contains lethal assistance for both Israel and Ukraine, did not involve the weapons shipment.

According to Austin, the US has not reached “a final determination” about the fate of the weaponry shipment.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that they are continuing to attack specific locations in eastern Rafah that are used by Hamas terrorists.

One of the main entrances for supplies into the beleaguered Gaza Strip was this crossing. Israeli officials declared its reopening in the middle of December in response to increasing US pressure and the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.