“This is a difficult and very disappointing statement from a president to whom we have been grateful since the beginning of the war,” Gilad Erdan told the country’s public broadcaster Kan, Israel’s first response to Biden’s warning.
The US president said on Wednesday he would stop supplying Israel with artillery shells and other weapons if it attacks the crowded Rafah.
In an interview with CNN, Mr. Biden regretted the deaths of civilians in the Palestinian enclave after the Jewish state used bombs sent by the Americans.
His warning came after the US halted a bomb shipment to Israel last week, saying Washington was worried about talk of a ground attack in Rafah.
“If they enter the Rafah, I will not deliver the weapons that were used […] deal with the cities, J. Biden pointed out. “We will not provide weapons and artillery shells that have been used.”
Israel carried out the strikes in Rafah on Wednesday as negotiators and mediators meeting in Cairo tried to agree on the release of hostages and a ceasefire in the seven-month war.
Gaza’s bloodiest war ever began after an unprecedented attack by the Islamist group Hamas on Oct. 7 killed about 1,170 Israelis and foreigners, mostly civilians, in Israel, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Hamas also took about 250 hostages, of which Israel knows about 130 are still in the Gaza Strip, including 35 dead hostages.
After vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched a massive military offensive that killed 34,844 people, mostly women and children, in the Gaza Strip, according to the Health Ministry of the territory controlled by the Islamist group.
Tags: Israel Bidens threat stop supply weapons disappointing
