The threat of Israel to invade the city of Rafah, which is crowded with Palestinian refugees, south of the Gaza Strip, has become a major point of disagreement between US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after each of them set his red line regarding Rafah, and the dispute reached the point where the US President began thinking about subjugating the military support it provides to Israel under some conditions.

The American news site Axios reported, citing three officials from Washington, that both Biden and Netanyahu have set two contradictory red lines regarding the outcome of the war on Gaza in recent days, which may lead them to a state of collision if Israel decides to invade Rafah in the few weeks. Coming.

Biden's recent positions, which coincide with the presidential race, indicate that he is fed up with the Israeli Prime Minister with the escalation of the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip and criticism of his administration even within the United States, which leads to believe that Washington may increasingly take unilateral steps regarding the war. While ruling out any radical change in its support for Israel.

The United States warned that any Israeli military operation in Rafah, where more than a million people have taken refuge, without planning or with little thought, would be a “disaster,” while the Axios report stated that Israeli invasion of Rafah would push the United States to reconsider its policies, including stopping defending Israel within the corridors of the United Nations, and imposing conditions on how the Israeli army uses American weapons in the war on Gaza.

For its part, the Politico website quoted four American officials familiar with the way the Biden administration thinks that the latter will consider setting conditions on the military aid that his country provides to Israel if it decides to launch a ground invasion of Rafah.

Politico also explained that the possibility of Biden resorting to this step shows the extent of the crisis in the relationship with Netanyahu, who refused to respond to the hidden efforts made by the Biden administration to control his decisions regarding the war on Gaza.

The American news site's report stated that while Biden has not yet taken any decision that sets conditions for supplying Israel with weapons in the future, officials say that he may actually do so if Israel begins a new military operation that increases the tragedy of the Palestinians.

In response to a journalist’s question regarding the invasion of Rafah, Biden said that this would be a “red line” for Netanyahu, but he quickly retracted that by saying: “It is a red line, but I will never abandon Israel. The defense of Israel is still paramount, so there is no red line where I would cut off all weapons so they don't have Iron Dome to protect them."

Later, Netanyahu announced that he intends to start the ground operation in Rafah after the occupation hinted that if an agreement that includes a temporary ceasefire and a prisoner exchange deal was not reached by the month of Ramadan, he would launch the next phase of his war on Gaza with a ground incursion into Rafah.

Netanyahu added: "We will go there (...) We will not leave Gaza. As you know, I have a red line. You know what the red line is, that October 7 will not happen again."

The United States is the main political and military supporter of Israel since the outbreak of the war on Gaza. Washington provides weapons and ammunition, and has used its veto more than once in the UN Security Council to prevent the issuance of a resolution calling for a ceasefire.