As the war between Israel and Hamas escalates, the terror group has said it is unwilling to make any more concessions to Israel in Gaza ceasefire talks. Meanwhile, Israel continued its tank and air strikes on the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Wednesday and threatened a major offensive.
The Israel-Hamas war began when Hamas militants breached Israel’s defenses on October 7 last year and stormed nearby military bases and farming communities, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and others. 250 were kidnapped.
Israel-Hamas war: latest
US President Joe Biden has publicly warned Israel for the first time that the United States will cut off arms supplies to Israel if the Israeli army launches a major offensive on Rafah, a city filled with refugees in southern Gaza. During an interview with CNN, Biden said, “I made it clear that if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have historically been used to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities. “Who deal with that problem.”
During the interview, Joe Biden also clarified that although he was “not moving away from Israel’s security”, his country was “moving away from Israel’s ability to wage war in [populated] areas”. Asked whether Israel had crossed its red line regarding its conduct in Gaza, Biden told CNN “not yet”, but said last week he had asked Israel to send thousands more to Israel because of this concern. Prevented the transfer of 500 pound bombs so that they could be used. ,
On Tuesday, the Biden administration confirmed it had earlier intercepted a larger shipment of 2,000 and 500-pound bombs that it feared Israel could use in a major ground operation in the densely populated southern Gaza city of Rafah. The Times of Israel reported.
Commenting on America’s first arms supply freeze, an Israel Defense Forces military spokesman said the allies resolve any disagreements “behind closed doors.” Speaking at the Tel Aviv conference, he described coordination between Israel and the United States as reaching “a scope, in my view, without precedent in the history of Israel.”
Hamas has said it is unwilling to make any more concessions to Israel in Gaza ceasefire talks, although talks were still ongoing in Cairo aimed at halting Israel’s seven-month-old offensive. Ezzat al-Reshik, a member of Hamas’s political office in Qatar, said in a statement that the group would not go further than a ceasefire proposal accepted on Monday, which would also include the release of some Israeli hostages and Palestinian women in Gaza. and children detained in Israel.
United Airlines UAL.O said it would cancel its daily flights to Tel Aviv in Israel until June 5, news agency Reuters reported. In a statement, the airline said, “We will continue to monitor the situation closely and make decisions on upcoming flights while taking into account the safety of our customers and crew.” The carrier also said its second daily Tel Aviv flight would remain canceled until June 19.
In an overnight announcement, the Israel Defense Forces said it was striking Hamas positions in the central Gaza Strip, The Times of Israel reports.
Biden has urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make a plan for who will rule Gaza after the war. During the CNN interview, Biden said, “We have to think about what’s going to happen in Gaza after this is all over. Who’s going to take over Gaza?” Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners have called on Israel to permanently annex Gaza and re-establish settlements in the Palestinian territory.