A day after the White House confirmed that it paused shipping 3,500 bombs to Israel, including 1,800 2,000-pound (907 kg) bombs; US President Joe Biden spoke publicly for the first time on this issue and stated that he will effectively stop some US arms shipments to his Middle East partner if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a major invasion of the city of Rafah. . Likewise, the president acknowledged that American bombs have been used to kill civilians in Gaza, in a strange admission of responsibility.
“I made it clear that if they enter Rafah, they have not entered yet, I will not supply the weapons that have historically been used to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities, to deal with that problem,” the president declared in an interview with CNN. . According to Biden, Israel has not yet invaded the city of Rafah, but if it advances towards the urban core of the city in the south of the strip, it will stop sending US offensive weapons, such as artillery and bombs for fighter jets.
However, it did assure that it will continue to supply its ally with defensive material for the Iron Dome anti-missile system, in line with its commitment to the defense of Israel.
Israeli tanks entered the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing on Tuesday, which connects with Egypt, after ordering the forced displacement of the population from the eastern neighborhoods of Rafah and intensifying bombing of this area.
The president also admitted that it is the heavier bombs that concern his administration the most about the final use that the Israeli army may make of them; they have been used to kill civilians in Gaza. “Civilians have died in Gaza as a result of these bombs and other ways in which they attack population centers,” Biden assured interviewer Erin Burnett.
The admission of the fact that Israel has used 2,000-pound bombs to kill civilians is a strong acknowledgment of the role the United States plays in the Gaza war. Likewise, the president’s statements just this week may be related to the expectation that the Biden government will soon send Congress a report on Israel’s use of American weapons and whether it complies with the international law of war.
The president committed to this in February, after pressure from the progressive sector of the Democrats, which seeks to condition military aid to respect for international humanitarian law. Since the 1970s, US law has prohibited sending weapons to third countries that “engage in a consistent pattern of serious violations of internationally recognized human rights.”
