US President Joe Biden said Wednesday he would stop US weapons supplies to Israel if it attacks Rafah in southern Gaza, his most direct warning to date over the prosecution of the war against Hamas. In an interview Biden also deplored the fact that civilians had been killed by the dropping of US bombs on the Palestinian territory. His fresh warning came after the US last week halted a shipment of huge American bombs to Israel as it appeared ready to proceed with a major attack on Rafah \u2014 a city packed with Palestinian civilians sheltering near the Egyptian border. \u201cIf they go into Rafah, I\u2019m not supplying the weapons that have been used\u2026 to deal with the cities,\u201d Biden said. \u201cWe\u2019re not gonna supply the weapons and the artillery shells that have been used.\u201d Biden, a self-described Zionist, had long resisted stopping any of the $3 billion in weapons the United States sends each year to Israel \u2014 and pushed Congress for an increase in the wake of the October 7 attack by Hamas that triggered the major Israeli retaliation. But US officials say privately that his hand was forced after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made clear he would go ahead with an assault on Rafah, defying Biden\u2019s public appeals to spare the city. Under increasing pressure from the left of his own party to limit arms shipments, the Biden administration paused delivery last week of 1,800 2,000-pound (907 kilogram) bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs. \u201cCivilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs,\u201d Biden said. \u201cIt\u2019s just wrong.\u201d \u201cWe\u2019re not walking away from Israel\u2019s security,\u201d Biden insisted in the interview. \u201cWe\u2019re walking away from Israel\u2019s ability to wage war in those areas.\u201d The Biden administration has previously taken smaller steps to show displeasure with Netanyahu, including imposing sanctions on extremist Israeli settlers and letting through a UN Security Council resolution that supported a ceasefire. Major US interventions in the past have changed Israeli behavior. In 1991, Israel begrudgingly attended the Madrid conference that led to a peace process with the Palestinians after then-president George W. Bush held up US loan guarantees to build settlements. In 1956, heavy US pressure including economic threats forced Israel as well as Britain and France to give up their grab of the Suez Canal from Egypt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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