Abdelraouf Arnaout
09 May 2024•Update: 09 May 2024
JERUSALEM
A US pause on arms transfer may change Israel’s operational plans in the Gaza Strip, a senior Israeli official said on Thursday.
“US President Joe Biden’s statement regarding delaying arms shipments to Israel will harm operational plans in the war,” the official was quoted as saying by the Israeli public broadcaster KAN.
"Israel could be forced to rationalize the use of weapons,” he added, without elaborating.
Biden said in an interview on CNN on Wednesday that he paused arms transfer to Israel over its offensive on Rafah, where some 1.5 million displaced Palestinians have sheltered from Israel's ongoing war on the Gaza Strip.
"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," Biden said.
His decision has triggered a storm of anger inside Israel with several government officials opening fire on the US president.
Biden acknowledged that US weapons have been used to kill civilians in Gaza.
The US president added that Israel's actions in Rafah so far have yet to cross any "red lines" that would prompt him to overhaul his Gaza policy.
Israel has killed more than 34,900 people and injured 78,500 others in a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip following a Hamas attack that claimed nearly 1,200 people on Oct. 7, 2023.
Over seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave's population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine, according to the UN.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January said it is "plausible" that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
*Writing by Ahmed Asmar
