What are the weapons that the US was supplying to Israel and now will not give them?
President Biden has warned Israel that his government will stop providing some weapons if the country launches a ground assault on the Gaza city of Rafah.
President Joe Biden has warned Israel that the United States will stop supplying the country with some weapons if it launches a major ground invasion into the Gaza city of Rafah.
Biden acknowledged that some of weapons that were sent to Israel have been used to kill civilians 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.
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What are the weapons that the US was supplying to Israel and now will not give them?
The U.S. has already paused a shipment of highly destructive weapons due to concerns they could be used for an attack on Rafah.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said they are reviewing security assistance shipments to Israel in the context of developments in the southern Gaza city.
“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 battle space,” he said at a Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee hearing.
“As we have assessed the situation, we’ve paused one shipment of high-payload munitions,” said Austin.
CNN sources say the shipment includes 1,800 bombs weighing a ton each, and 1,700 bombs weighing 500 pounds.
Biden said the U.S.will continue to supply Israel with defensive weapons that make the country secure, but clarifies his administration will not supply the weapons and artillery shells for a Rafah invasion.
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Israel threatens a Rafah invasion
Israel has warned it will to launch a major attack on Rafah with the aim of killing thousands of Hamas members it says are hiding there.
However, the United Nations and countries including the United States have said that such an invasion would endanger the lives of more than a million Palestinian civilians who are seeking refuge in the city.
Israel tallies indicate the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas killed about 1,200 people and abducted 250 others, while Gaza officials say Israel’s campaign to destroy Hamas since then has so far killed almost 35,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians.