Israel strikes eastern Rafah, as Biden says US will withhold weapons if major Gaza assault proceeds, in warning to ally
- Israeli forces massed tanks close to Rafah, after US President Joe Biden vowed to withhold weapons from Israel if it launched an invasion of the southern Gaza city
- Israel appears ready to proceed with a major attack on Rafah – a city packed with civilians
Israeli tanks and warplanes bombarded areas of Rafah on Thursday, Palestinian residents said, after US President Joe Biden vowed to withhold weapons from Israel if its forces launch a major invasion of the southern Gaza city
As ceasefire talks continued in Cairo, Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad said their fighters struck Israeli forces on the eastern outskirts of Rafah, firing anti-tank rockets and mortars at Israeli positions.
In his starkest comments yet, Biden raised the pressure on Israel to hold back from an all-out assault on Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought refuge after fleeing combat elsewhere in Gaza.
Israeli tanks seized the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt on Tuesday, cutting off a vital aid route and forcing 80,000 people to flee the city this week, according to the United Nations. Israel says it must hit Rafah to defeat thousands of Hamas fighters it says are there.
“I made it clear that if they go into Rafah, … I’m not supplying the weapons,” Biden told CNN in an interview on Wednesday.