Biden says he will halt shipping weapons to Israel if it invades Rafah, citing civilian casualties

President Joe Biden said during a Wednesday interview that if Israel moves forward with an invasion of Rafah, he will halt sending weapons to the Jewish state over concerns about civilian casualties, despite a recent admission from the Pentagon that an American airstrike killed a shepherd instead of a terrorist. 

“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” Biden said during a CNN interview.

“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,” he added. 

Biden recently held up aid to Israel, which 80 Democrats requested, arguing that the country's government is blocking humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza.

Other lawmakers including House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., called on Biden to stop halting the aid to Israel. 

"This is not the will of Congress. This is an underhanded attempt to withhold aid without facing accountability. It's undermining what Congress intended," he said.

Biden's announcement took place less than a week after the Pentagon admitted that an airstrike in Syria last year killed a civilian instead of its intended target, a senior al-Qaeda official.

The Israel-Hamas war has been ongoing for months since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7 and killed 1,200 people and took multiple hostages.