House Armed Services Committee ranking member Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said President Biden and his administration have not been clear on their policy around sending weapons to Israel in relation to an invasion of the city of Rafah.
“My main criticism of the administration … [and] president right now is they just haven’t been clear on what their policy is,” Smith said on NewsNation’s “The Hill” with anchor Blake Burman on Thursday. “It is not the policy of the Biden administration that they’re gonna cut off Israel entirely if they go into Rafah.”
On Wednesday, Biden warned he would stop giving offensive weapons such as bombs and artillery shells to Israel if its forces begin an invasion in Rafah.
“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” Biden said to CNN’s Erin Burnett.
“I made it clear that if they go into Rafah — they haven’t gone in Rafah yet — if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities — that deal with that problem,” Biden added.
Smith said during his “The Hill” interview that the “main group” preventing a cease-fire in Israel’s war against Hamas is the Palestinian militant group itself.
“We’ve had a cease-fire on the table for three months,” Smith said. “Hamas refuses to agree to it, ‘cause they insist on Israel … basically unilaterally surrendering, and Hamas won’t even promise to return the hostages if they do.”
Hamas said earlier this week that it agreed on an offer for a temporary cease-fire, but Israel has said its terms did not match up to its key demands.
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