Biden warns Israel he will stop weapon supplies if Rafah assault goes ahead – live

Palestinian militant group Hamas said yesterday it would make no more concessions to Israel in Gaza truce talks.

Delegations from Hamas, Israel, the US, Egypt and Qatar have been meeting in Cairo since Tuesday. Citing a source familiar with the matter, Egypt’s state-affiliated Al Qahera TV reported early this morning that areas of disagreement were being resolved and there were signs that an agreement will be reached, without giving details.

But Izzat El-Reshiq, a member of Hamas’s political office in Qatar, said in a statement yesterday that the group would not go beyond a ceasefire proposal it accepted on Monday. It would also entail the release of some Israeli hostages in Gaza and Palestinian women and children detained in Israel.

“Israel isn’t serious about reaching an agreement and it is using the negotiation as a cover to invade Rafah and occupy the crossing,” said Reshiq.

Israel on Monday declared that the three-phase truce proposal approved by Hamas was unacceptable because terms had been watered down. It did not respond immediately to the Hamas statement.

The US said on Tuesday that Hamas had revised its ceasefire proposal and the revision could overcome an impasse in negotiations. Just a few hours before Hamas’s latest statement, Washington continued to say the two sides were not far apart.

“We believe there is a pathway to a deal … The two sides are close enough they should do what they can to get to a deal,” US national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters.

US officials yesterday confirmed that Washington paused delivery of a shipment of bombs to Israel because of the risk to civilians in Gaza.

Israel’s UN ambassador, Gilad Erdan, called that decision “very disappointing” but said he did not believe the US would stop supplying arms to Israel.

The United States is by far the biggest supplier of weapons to Israel, and it accelerated deliveries after the Hamas attacks on 7 October that triggered Israel’s offensive in Gaza.

However, Joe Biden has been under pressure from his fellow Democrats and growing campus protests to deter Israel from invading Rafah. His support of Israel has become a political liability as the president runs for re-election.

Joe Biden acknowledged that “civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of” US-supplied bombs.

Mr Biden’s comments, his starkest to date, increase the pressure on Israel to refrain from a full-scale assault on Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought refuge after fleeing combat farther north in Gaza.

There was no immediate comment from Israel on his remarks, but Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the Rafah operation would go ahead. Israel says it must hit Rafah to defeat thousands of Hamas fighters it says are there.

Israel, meanwhile, continued tank and aerial strikes on southern Gaza after moving in via the Rafah border crossing with Egypt on Tuesday, cutting off a vital aid route.

President Joe Biden said that he would not supply offensive weapons that Israel could use to launch an all-out assault on Rafah — the last major Hamas stronghold in Gaza — over concern for the well-being of the more than one million civilians sheltering there.

Mr Biden, in an interview with CNN, said the US was still committed to Israel’s defence and would supply Iron Dome rocket interceptors and other defensive arms, but that if Israel goes into Rafah, “we’re not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells used.”

A Canadian man “of Jewish Israeli descent” has been shot dead in the Egyptian city of Alexandria in a suspected criminal case, a security source said, while a previously unknown militant group said it carried out the attack in reaction to the war in Gaza.

The Egyptian security source said the man had been killed “with the motive of robbery” and made no link between the shooting and the victim’s ethnic background.

But a message on Telegram by a previously unknown group called “Vanguards of Liberation” claimed responsibility for the attack as a reaction to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and its move to seize control of the Rafah crossing on Egypt’s border with the enclave. It named the victim as Ziv Kipper, accusing him of working for Israeli intelligence.

Recap: United Nations officials have warned that vital aid is being “choked off” after Israeli forces and tanks seized control of the main aid crossing in Rafah:

A student encampment protest at Trinity College Dublin is to end after management agreed to the demands of protesters wanting the university to cut all ties with Israel.

Visitors have been unable to access the historic Book of Kells since action began on Friday evening when the activists set up tents inside the campus of the prestigious institution.

University management met student representatives on Wednesday to discuss the situation.

In a statement, Trinity said it would complete a divestment from investments in Israeli companies that have activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and appear on the UN blacklist in this regard.

This process is expected to be completed by June.

It said it would “endeavour” to divest in other Israeli companies, noting that its supplier list contains just one Israeli company which will remain until March 2025 for contractual reasons.