The White House said on Thursday that President Joe Biden had instructed his team to "continue working with Israel in order to inflict an enduring defeat on Hamas," adding that the United States had provided Israel with several alternatives for how to pursue the organization's operatives, Reuters reported.
It also said that the United States had not yet made a final decision on an arms shipment to Israel that was frozen last week over fears that Israel would launch a large-scale operation in Rafah.
The statement came after US President Joe Biden warned that he would halt shipments of American weapons to Israel if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a major invasion of the city of Rafah.
Speaking to CNN, Biden said that while the US would continue to provide defensive weapons to Israel, including for its Iron Dome air defense system, other shipments would end should a major ground invasion of Rafah begin.
“We’re going to continue to make sure Israel is secure in terms of Iron Dome and their ability to respond to attacks that came out of the Middle East recently,” he said. “But it’s, it’s just wrong. We’re not going to – we’re not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells.”
Biden’s interview with CNN took place a day after a US official confirmed that the US had paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on Rafah.
The shipment which was paused was supposed to consist of 1,800 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs, a US official told The Associated Press, with the focus of US concern being the larger explosives and how they could be used in a dense urban setting.
Netanyahu responded to Biden on Thursday, saying, "If we have to stand alone, we will stand alone. I have already said that if we have to - we will fight with our nails. But we have much more than our nails, and with the same determination, with God's help, we will win together," he said.