Military aid to Israel could be made conditional by US President Joe Biden should Israel decide to launch an incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, a Monday Politico report cited four US officials as saying.
The four officials in question know internal US administration thinking, the report notes, with one of them saying "It’s something he’s definitely thought about.”
The news also comes after reports of high tensions between Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the former having accused the latter of "undermining the values on which Israel was founded and...harming the country with his handling of the Gaza war" in an MSNBC interview on Saturday. The Israeli leader said in response that such accusations are "false."
The US president would continue to provide arms, such as the Iron Dome, to the country, though he said that "the mass civilian casualties in Gaza was a 'red line' for him," the report noted.
This decision Biden could make is also a result of such an Israeli operation in Rafah imperiling civilians in the vicinity, the Politico report noted, stating that conditioning aid would pressure Israel to shift its approach on Rafah.
Other approaches to Rafah
White House deputy press secretary Olivia Dalton informed Politico of Biden's belief that "there are other approaches which can be taken and are [being taken] that are more effective” and said that it's not productive to assign a ‘red line’ sort of terminology to what is a very complex set of policies.”
Despite Biden's warnings and criticisms, Netanyahu has told German media company Axel Springer that Israeli forces would enter Rafah and that his red line is that "October 7 doesn’t happen again."
An IDF official said that such an incursion wasn't imminent, Politico reported, due to the need to evacuate civilians in the area and the preparation of IDF soldiers.
The report said the US needs a “credible and implementable” plan from Israel before giving an implicit green light for an advance into Rafah, but that any added time could be used by Hamas as an advantage.
Tovah Lazaroff contributed to this report.