Prime minister and officials say Israel will continue the fight even as the United States increases pressure following the Rafah attack.
Israeli officials struck a defiant tone after US President Joe Biden warned that the United States would not provide weapons for a large-scale ground attack on the southern Gaza town of Rafah, where hundreds Thousands of displaced Palestinians are locked up without any security. leave.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address Thursday that Israel, which relies heavily on U.S. arms shipments, would “fight with our nails” if necessary.
“Hamas (heart) Biden,” Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s far-right security minister, wrote in a social media post.
Hamas ❤️Biden
— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) May 9, 2024
The United States has consistently provided military support to Israel throughout the campaign in the Gaza Strip, defying growing international and domestic pressure and putting aside concerns about alleged violations of international law by Israeli forces.
Biden, in an interview with CNN on Wednesday, said the United States was still committed to the defense of Israel and would provide Iron Dome rocket interceptors and other defensive weapons, but that if Israeli forces invade Rafah, “we are not going to provide weapons and artillery”. shells used.
Earlier on Wednesday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the United States would suspend deliveries of heavy bombs.
These statements appear to suggest a growing divide between the Biden administration and the Netanyahu government.
“I turn to Israel’s enemies as well as our best friends and say that the State of Israel cannot be subjugated,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in a statement Thursday.
“We will stay strong, we will achieve our goals – we will hit Hamas, we will hit Hezbollah and we will achieve security. »
Cairo talks continue
Talks in Cairo aimed at securing a six-week ceasefire to allow the release of some captives and an increase in aid to civilians in Gaza continue, White House security spokesman said National, John Kirby.
CIA Director Bill Burns and other delegations participating in the talks left Egypt on Thursday without a deal.
Israel insisted the war would continue until it achieved its goal of destroying Hamas in Gaza. Israeli forces this week took control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt and probed the outskirts of the nearby town of Rafah, where they also carried out airstrikes.
Netanyahu has so far not ordered troops into the city, where Israel says four battalions of Hamas fighters are based.
The Biden administration has consistently said that an Israeli incursion into Rafah should not take place until there is a plan to protect civilians sheltering there. Aid groups said an attack would spell disaster for civilians and there were no safe options.
“It’s a choice that Israel will have to make, and we hope that it doesn’t,” Kirby said of the Rafah offensive, noting that the Biden administration believes there are better ways to advance Israel’s goal of dismantling Hamas.
