WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday defended a decision to pause a delivery to Israel of 3,500 bombs over concerns they could be used in the Gazan city of Rafah, saying Israel lacked a 鈥渃redible plan鈥� to protect some 1.4 million civilians sheltering there.
Speaking to ABC News鈥� This Week, Blinken said that President Joe Biden remains determined to help Israel defend itself and that the shipment of 3,500 2,000-pound and 500-pound bombs was the only US weapons package being withheld.
That could change, he said, if Israel launches a full-scale attack on Rafah, which Israel says it plans to invade to root out fighters of the ruling Hamas militant group.
Biden has made clear to Israel that if it 鈥渓aunches this major military operation to Rafah, then there are certain systems that we鈥檙e not going to be supporting and supplying for that operation,鈥� said Blinken.
鈥淲e have real concerns about the way they鈥檙e used,鈥� he continued. Israel needs to 鈥渉ave a clear, credible plan to protect civilians, which we haven鈥檛 seen.鈥�
Rafah is hosting some 1.4 million Palestinians, most of them displaced from elsewhere in Gaza by fighting and Israeli bombardments, amid dire shortages of food and water.
The death toll in Israel鈥檚 military operation in Gaza has now passed at least 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza鈥檚 Hamas-run health ministry.
The war was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7 in which some 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 people taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel says 620 soldiers have been killed in the fighting.