US says Rafah offensive would jeopardize cease-fire talks as Biden threatens to halt more Israel aid

WASHINGTON -- The United States warned connected Thursday that Israel volition beryllium dealing a strategical triumph to Hamas if it carries retired plans for an all-out battle connected Rafah, the militants' past large stronghold successful Gaza.

The informing was backed by a caller menace from President Joe Biden: He says helium volition intermission much violative subject assistance to Israel if it goes done with the cognition successful a metropolis wherever much than 1 cardinal civilians are sheltering.

Biden past week enactment connected clasp a shipment of ample bombs to Israel implicit concerns the weapons are of the benignant that has caused important civilian casualties successful Gaza and would astir surely bash much specified harm if Israel conducted a large violative successful Rafah.

On Wednesday, helium held retired the anticipation of holding up aboriginal shipments of weaponry guidance kits and artillery to Israel, successful hopes the menace would crook Israel backmost from an cognition successful the city.

The pronouncements are portion of last-ditch propulsion for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right authorities to rethink their nationalist commitments to invade the metropolis successful an effort to eradicate Hamas. The U.S. believes specified a determination would effect successful important civilian casualties and exacerbate an already dire humanitarian situation successful Gaza.

The U.S. is making its sharpest moves yet to power the decision-making of its state successful the ongoing warfare against the militant radical that was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7 onslaught connected Israel. Some 1,200 radical successful Israel were killed and astir 250 were taken captive.

“Our presumption is immoderate benignant of large Rafah crushed cognition would really fortify Hamas' hands astatine the negotiating table, not Israel’s,” White House nationalist information spokesperson John Kirby said Thursday. He said much civilian deaths successful Rafah from an Israeli violative would springiness much ammunition to Hamas' “twisted narrative” astir Israel.

Talks successful Cairo aimed astatine securing a six-week cease-fire to let for the merchandise of immoderate hostages and a surge of nutrient and assistance to civilians successful Gaza are continuing, Kirby added. But CIA Director Bill Burns and different delegations to the talks near Egypt connected Thursday without a deal.

Kirby said it was excessively soon to cognize whether the assistance holdup had altered the Israeli calculus, but that the U.S. was continuing to counsel Israel connected however it could decision Hamas done much surgical operations.

“We judge that they person enactment an tremendous magnitude of unit connected Hamas and that determination are amended ways to spell aft what is near of Hamas successful Rafah than a large crushed operation," helium added.

Biden, successful an interrogation with CNN connected Wednesday, insisted that contempt the arms clasp up, the U.S. was inactive committed to Israel's defence and would proviso Iron Dome rocket interceptors and different antiaircraft arms.

He acknowledged that “civilians person been killed successful Gaza” by the benignant of dense bombs that the U.S. has been supplying. It was his archetypal validation of what medication critics person been loudly protesting, adjacent if helium inactive stopped abbreviated of taking responsibility. His menace to clasp up artillery shells expanded connected earlier revelations that the U.S. was going to intermission a shipment of dense bombs.

Biden said Israel’s actions astir Rafah had “not yet” crossed his reddish lines, but helium has repeated that Israel needs to bash acold much to support the lives of civilians successful Gaza. The Hamas-run wellness ministry puts the toll astatine much 34,000 dead, though it doesn’t separate betwixt militants and civilians.

The U.S. has historically provided tremendous amounts of subject assistance to Israel. The shipment that was paused was expected to dwell of 1,800 2,000-pound (900-kilogram) bombs and 1,700 500-pound (225-kilogram) bombs, according to a elder U.S. medication authoritative who spoke connected the information of anonymity to sermon the delicate matter. The absorption of U.S. interest was the larger explosives and however they could beryllium utilized successful a dense municipality area.

“I made it wide that if they spell into Rafah — they haven’t gone successful Rafah yet — if they spell into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that person been utilized historically to woody with Rafah, to woody with the cities, that woody with that problem," Biden said.

“We’re not walking distant from Israel’s security," the Democratic president continued. “We’re walking distant from Israel’s quality to wage warfare successful those areas.”

U.S. officials had declined for days to remark connected the halted transfer. Word astir it came arsenic Biden connected Tuesday described U.S. enactment for Israel arsenic “ironclad, adjacent erstwhile we disagree.”

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, successful an interrogation with Israeli Channel 12 TV news, said the determination to intermission the shipment was “a precise disappointing decision, adjacent frustrating." He suggested the determination stemmed from governmental unit connected Biden from Congress, the U.S. field protests and the upcoming election.

The determination besides drew a crisp rebuke from House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Republican person Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who said they lone learned astir the holdup from property reports, contempt assurances from the Biden medication that nary specified pauses were successful the works. The Republicans called connected Biden successful a missive to swiftly extremity the blockage, saying it “risks emboldening Israel's enemies,” and to little lawmakers connected the quality of the argumentation reviews.

Biden has faced unit from immoderate connected the near and condemnation from the critics connected the close who accidental Biden has moderated his enactment for an indispensable Mideast ally.

“The American radical enactment Israel overwhelmingly,” said South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the No. 2 Republican, who pushed a solution condemning Biden’s decision. “And they besides judge that Israel needs to bash what is necessary, and if that includes going into Rafah to basal retired the Hamas threat, past that is indispensable for their precise survival.”

Former President Donald Trump, entering a New York courthouse for his transgression proceedings implicit hush wealth payments, criticized Biden arsenic well, saying Thursday that “What Biden is doing with respect to Israel is disgraceful.” The presumptive GOP statesmanlike nominee added, “If immoderate Jewish idiosyncratic voted for Joe Biden, they should beryllium ashamed of themselves. He’s wholly abandoned Israel.”

Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a Biden ally, said successful a connection the intermission connected large bombs indispensable beryllium a “first step.”

“Our leverage is clear,” Sanders said. “Over the years, the United States has provided tens of billions of dollars successful subject assistance to Israel. We tin nary longer beryllium complicit successful Netanyahu’s horrific warfare against the Palestinian people.”

Israeli troops connected Tuesday seized power of Gaza’s captious Rafah borderline crossing successful what the White House described arsenic a constricted cognition that stopped abbreviated of the full-on Israeli penetration of the metropolis that Biden has repeatedly warned against.

Israel has ordered the evacuation of 100,000 Palestinians from the city. Israeli forces person besides carried retired what it describes arsenic “targeted strikes” connected the eastbound portion of Rafah and captured the Rafah crossing, a captious conduit for the travel of humanitarian assistance on the Gaza-Egypt border.

The State Department is separately considering whether to o.k. the continued transportation of Joint Direct Attack Munition kits, which spot precision guidance systems onto bombs, to Israel, but the reappraisal didn’t pertain to imminent shipments.

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Associated Press writers Josef Federman successful Jerusalem and Lolita C. Baldor and Matthew Lee contributed to this report.