1 week Ago By NPR Washington Desk
President Biden is seen at the White House on May 2. In an interview with CNN on Wednesday, Biden said he would halt some weapons shipments to Israel if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a full invasion of Rafah. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images hide caption President Biden is seen at the White House on May 2.
In an interview with CNN on Wednesday, Biden said he would halt some weapons shipments to Israel if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a full invasion of Rafah. President Biden says that he has threatened to withhold some weapons to Israel if it proceeds with a major ground invasion of Rafah, saying civilians have died as a result of the use of certain bombs. "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 told CNN's Erin Burnett .
Israel moved into the city on Tuesday in what the White House has described as appearing to be a limited operation. Biden's comments, which aired Wednesday night on CNN, follow confirmation that the administration had already paused one shipment of more than 3,000 bombs because of concerns they could be used by Israel on Rafah, the southern city housing more than 1 million civilians in Gaza. A senior administration official confirmed that pause to NPR earlier on Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
White House spokesperson.
