U.S. President Joe Biden said he would halt additional shipments of offensive weapons to Israel if it proceeds with a ground invasion of Rafah, decrying the potential loss of civilian life as "just wrong.”
"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 of the Middle East recently,” Biden said in an interview Wednesday with CNN. "But it’s, it’s just wrong. We’re not going to — we’re not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells.”
The remarks came after the U.S. paused delivery of about 3,500 bombs to Israel — including 2,000-pound (900-kilogram) explosives that could cause massive collateral damage in the densely packed southern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip — amid mounting frustration over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s conduct of the war in the territory.