Bomb block row
» Biden weapons ban enrages Israel » Medical crisis in war-torn Rafah
If we have to stand alone, we will stand alone.. we will fight with our fingernails BENJAMIN NETANYAHU IN RESPONSE TO BIDEN’S STANCE
ISRAEL reacted with fury at Joe Biden’s decision to halt arms shipments from the US if there is a full-scale invasion of Rafah.
Intense bombing hit the beleaguered city as a war of words exploded between Israel and the US.
President Biden said the US will supply Israel’s rocket interceptors and other defensive arms but not weapons and artillery shells if it targets what remains of Rafah.
He said: “Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centres.
“We’re not walking away from Israel’s security. We’re walking away from Israel’s ability to wage war in those areas.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “If we have to stand alone, we will stand alone.
“If we need to, we will fight with our fingernails. But we have much more than fingernails.”
Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, wrote a post on X with a heart between the words “Hamas” and “Biden”. Israel’s ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan said the US President’s statement could “significantly impair” Israel’s ability to “achieve military objectives” of eliminating Hamas.
He said Mr Biden’s stance could give hope to Israel’s enemies.
As politicians rowed, the World Health Organisation said it has just three days of fuel for its medical operations in southern Gaza, with shortages already forcing the closure of a hospital in Rafah.
The UN’s main relief agency in Gaza – UNRWA – estimates nearly 79,000 people have fled Rafah since
Monday. One member of staff said Rafah has experienced more intense bombardments in the past 24 hours than the past two weeks combined.
Louise Wateridge said this continued with “frequency this morning a couple of miles away in the east of Rafah”.
Ms Wateridge said the building she was in, in western Rafah, was “shaking intermittently from the nearby bombardments” and she could see vehicles carrying displaced families leaving the area.
She added there are people in Rafah who are “unable to move very far because of elderly parents or young children”. Medical sources said dozens of people were killed.
The Israeli military said it had carried out strikes on about 25 “terror targets” in Zeitoun.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said staff are rationing fuel.
“But it is clear that it is a matter of hours, if not days, where we will have no more fuel.” The UN said northern Gaza is already in a state of “fullblown famine”.