Sullivan Dismisses Reports That Say Biden is Considering Conditioning Aid to Israel If It Invades Rafah

Netanyahu said he will 'finish the job' in Rafah, which is packed with 1.5 million Palestinians

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Tuesday refuted a report from POLITICO that said President Biden was considering conditioning military aid to Israel if it invades Rafah, the southern Gaza Strip city that’s packed with 1.5 million Palestinians.

“We’re not going to engage in hypotheticals about what comes down the line and the reports that purport to describe the president’s thinking are uninformed speculation,” Sullivan said.

A full-scale attack on Rafah would incur a huge number of civilian casualties as most Palestinians in the city, which has a pre-war population of 275,000, are sheltering in tents on the streets.

The assault would also disrupt the small flow of aid going into Gaza, as the only border crossing into Egypt is located in the city, and Palestinians are already starving to death in Gaza due to the Israeli siege.

Sullivan also denied the idea that President Biden set a red line for Israel. In an interview over the weekend, Biden suggested an assault on Rafah was a red line but quickly walked back the comment. “The president didn’t make any declarations or pronouncements or announcements,” Sullivan said.

Also on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again vowed to invade Rafah. “We will finish the job in Rafah while enabling the civilian population to get out of harm’s way,” he said in comments to AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobbying group in the US.

The State Department said on Monday that Israel hasn’t presented a plan to protect civilians if it invades Rafah. “The Government of Israel has said that they will implement a humanitarian assistance plan,” said State Department spokesman Matt Miller. “We haven’t seen such a plan yet.”

So far, the Israeli slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza has killed over 31,000 people, mostly women and children. The US has supported the massacre by approving over 100 arms deals for Israel since October 7.

Author: Dave DeCamp

Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.