Biden admits 'Israel' killed Palestinian civilians using US bombs

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: CNN
9 May 2024 06:27
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The US president warns in an interview with CNN that Washington will stop supplying the Israeli occupation with artillery shells and bombs if it launches a "wide" invasion of Rafah.

US President Joe Biden during his CNN interview with Erin Burnett on Wednesday, May 8, 2024 (CNN)

President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that the Israeli occupation has killed civilians in Gaza using bombs supplied by the United States, marking the first instance of such an admission by any US official since the genocidal war on the Strip began last October.

His remarks came during an interview with CNN, where he also commented on the recent Israeli invasion of Rafah.

Earlier this week, the US administration paused a shipment of more than 3,000 heavy bombs, citing concerns that they could be used on Rafah.

"Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers," Biden told CNN's Erin Burnett during the interview.

In 215 days, nearly 35,000 Palestinians have been killed, the majority of whom are women and children, in the ongoing aggression on Gaza.

Red line not yet crossed

Biden earlier declared that an offensive on the city sheltering over 1.4 million people, the majority of whom were forcibly displaced from other regions of Gaza, is considered a "red line" that Israelis mustn't cross.

However, late Monday, occupation forces launched a ground attack on Rafah and advanced toward the Rafah crossing with Egypt before taking control of it.

Additionally, the Israeli forces carried out dozens of air strikes on homes and buildings inside the city, resulting in a number of massacres and dozens of martyrs. Moreover, "Israel" has shut down the last land route providing aid to southern Gaza after it had previously closed the Karem Abu Salem crossing.

During the interview with Erin Burnett, the US president stated that "Israel" has not yet crossed the red line he had earlier set.

"They haven't gotten into the population centers. What they did was right on the border, and it's causing problems with, right now, in terms of with Egypt," he claimed.

Biden warned however that "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.”

He added that, in case of a "wide attack" on the city, Washington would stop delivering "the weapons and artillery shells," and would limit weapons to air defense interceptors and other non-attack components and ammunition.

On the other hand, the president reiterated his country's commitment to protect the occupation's security, emphasizing, "We're not walking away from Israel security, we're walking away from Israel's ability to wage war in those areas," in reference to Rafah.