The United States will cut off some types of weapons for Israel if it undertakes a military operation in the city of Rafah in the southernmost part of the Gaza Strip, warned President Joe Biden, quoted by Reuters and France Press, BTA reported.
Furthermore, in an interview with American television CNN, Biden admitted that US-supplied weapons had killed civilians in the coastal Palestinian territory.
"I made it clear that if (the Israeli armed forces) go into Rafah..., I will not supply them with the weapons that have been used in the past to deal with Rafah, with the cities, with this problem," he emphasized yesterday.
This is the first public warning from Biden that the United States will stop supplying weapons to Israel if it undertakes such an offensive, Reuters notes.
The Israeli army launched this week a "limited operation" in Rafah.
A senior Biden administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the US had carefully reviewed weapons that could be used in an offensive on the city, where more than 1 million residents of the Gaza Strip have taken refuge. As a result, the delivery of 1,800 2,000-pound (907-kilogram) bombs and 1,700 500-pound (nearly 227-kilogram) bombs was halted.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin explained that the decision was made out of concern for Rafah, where Washington has opposed a major military operation in Rafah without guarantees to protect civilians.