Israel’s ambassador to the UN on Thursday considered “difficult to hear and very disappointing” the threat of American President Joe Biden to stop the delivery of certain weapons to Israel in the event of a major offensive in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip. “This is a very hard to hear and disappointing statement from a president to whom we have been grateful since the start of the war,” Gilad Erdan told Israeli public radio.
“It is quite clear that any pressure on Israel, any restriction imposed on it, even from close allies concerned about our interests, is interpreted by our enemies” and “gives them hope,” he added. American President Joe Biden set conditions for the first time on Wednesday evening for the delivery of weapons to Israel, of which the United States is a historic ally and the primary military supporter.
If Israeli soldiers “enter Rafah, I will not deliver to them the weapons that have always been used (…) against cities”, he said in an interview with the CNN channel, citing in particular “shells artillery”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been insisting for months that he is determined to launch a large-scale ground offensive against the city of Rafah where, he claims, the last Hamas battalions are hiding, but where there are also 1 .4 million Palestinians, including more than a million displaced by seven months of fighting and bombings that have left the rest of the Gaza Strip in ruins.
“If Israel is prevented from entering an area as important as the center of Rafah, where there are thousands of terrorists, hostages and Hamas leaders, how is the goal of annihilating Hamas supposed to be be reached?” asked the Israeli ambassador. “Ultimately, the State of Israel will do what it believes must be done for the security of its citizens,” he said.
Alongside Qatar and Egypt, the United States is mediating which has been trying for months to convince Israel and Hamas to conclude a truce intended to allow in particular a pause in the war and the release of Palestinian detainees from Israeli prisons against hostages kidnapped by Hamas during its bloody attack in southern Israel on October 7. Indirect negotiations resumed on Wednesday in Cairo to try to reach a compromise and avoid the announced assault on Rafah.
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