Jerusalem:
Israel's ambassador to the United Nations expressed disappointment on Thursday over US President Joe Biden's threat to halt certain arms deliveries to Israel if it invades the busy Gaza city of Rafah.
“This is a difficult and very disappointing statement to hear from a president to whom we have been grateful since the beginning of the war,” Gilad Erdan told Israeli public broadcaster Kan Radio, in Israel's first response to Biden's warning.
Israel has defied international objections by sending tanks and carrying out “targeted attacks” in the border town, which it says is home to Hamas's last remaining battalions – but which is also packed with displaced Palestinian civilians.
“If they invade Rafah, I will not provide the weapons that were used… to deal with the cities,” Biden said in an interview with CNN, in his sharpest warning to Israel since the start of the war.
“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a result of those bombs,” Biden said. “It's just wrong.”
Erdan responded that Biden's comments would be interpreted by Israel's enemies Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah as “something that gives them hope for success.”
“If Israel is prevented from entering an area as important and central as Rafah, where there are thousands of terrorists, hostages and Hamas leaders, how exactly are we supposed to achieve our goals?” he said.
“This is not a defensive weapon. This is about certain attack bombs. Ultimately, the State of Israel will have to do what it thinks needs to be done for the security of its citizens.”
AFP journalists reported heavy shelling in Rafah early Thursday, and the Israeli army later said it had also hit “Hamas positions” further north in the center of the Gaza Strip.
On Tuesday, Israeli forces seized the Rafah border crossing into Egypt, which was the main entry point for aid in besieged Gaza.
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