President Joe Biden admitted on Wednesday that U.S. bombs had been used to kill Palestinians in Gaza and said he would not supply Israel with bombs that could be used to attack the city of Rafah.
Biden made the comments in an interview with CNN following his decision last week to halt a shipment of 3,500 bombs to Israel due to concerns they could be used in a ground assault into Gaza.
"Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers," Biden told CNN.
"I made it clear that if they go into Rafah—they haven't gone in Rafah yet—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," the president said.
The president's remarks come as Israel has ordered 100,000 Palestinians to evacuate Rafah ahead of a potential ground offensive into the city which is the last major stronghold for Hamas.
According to The Associated Press (AP), more than one million civilians have evacuated to the southern city in the Gaza Strip since the war broke out after Hamas' October 7 deadly attack on Israel.
Gaza health officials say that more than 34,500 people have been killed since the war began, as cited by AP. Hamas' attack killed around 1,200 people and resulted in nearly 250 hostages being taken.
"We're going to continue to make sure Israel is secure in terms of Iron Dome and their ability to respond to attacks that came out in the Middle East recently," Biden told CNN on Wednesday.
"But it's, it's just wrong. We're not going to—we're not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells used that have been used," the president added.
Biden suggested on Wednesday that Israel had not yet crossed the administration's red lines after Israeli troops took control of Gaza's Rafah border crossing, which connects Gaza with Egypt.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby described the action as "an operation of limited scale and duration" designed to prevent arms smuggling by Hamas.
The president told CNN that the Israelis "haven't gone into the population centers. What they did is right on the border."
"But I've made it clear to Bibi [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] and the war Cabinet, they're not going to get our support, if in fact, they go in these population centers," Biden added.
The Israeli Defense Forces announced on Monday that it was "conducting targeted strikes against Hamas terror targets in eastern Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip."
Hamas leadership said in a statement just hours earlier that it had approved Qatari and Egyptian officials' proposal for a ceasefire.
Republicans were critical of Biden's decision to pause a shipment of bombs to Israel this week. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell wrote in a letter to Biden on Wednesday that "security assistance to Israel is an urgent priority that must not be delayed." The letter asked that the White House respond "by the end of the week" and provide additional clarity on Biden's decision to pause the weapons shipment.
Newsweek reached out to the White House on Wednesday for comment on Johnson and McConnell's letter.
Update, 05/09/24 04.00 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include additional information.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Darragh Roche is a U.S. News Reporter based in Limerick, Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. politics. He has ... Read more
