House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said President Biden and his administration have not been clear about their policy on sending weapons to Israel in connection with an invasion of the city of Rafah.
“My main criticism of the administration…president right now is that they just haven’t been clear about what their policy is,” Smith said in Nation News “The Hill” with anchor Blake Burman Thursday. “It is not the policy of the Biden administration to fully isolate Israel if it enters Rafah.”
On Wednesday, President Biden warned that he would stop supplying offensive weapons, such as bombs and artillery shells, to Israel if his forces launched an invasion of Rafah.
“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a result of these bombs and other ways they attack population centers,” Biden told CNN’s Erin Burnett.
“I have made it clear that if they go to Rafah – they have not yet gone to Rafah – if they go to Rafah, I will not provide the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities – that deal with this problem,” Biden added.
Smith said during his interview with “The Hill” that the “main group” preventing a ceasefire in Israel’s war against Hamas is the Palestinian militant group itself.
“We’ve had a ceasefire under discussion for three months,” Smith said. “Hamas refuses to go along with this, because it insists that Israel… basically surrender unilaterally, and Hamas won’t even promise to return the hostages if it does.”
Hamas said earlier this week it agreed to an offer of a temporary ceasefire, but Israel said its terms did not meet its main demands.
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