Blinken defends weapons pause as Israel lacks 'credible plan' to protect Rafah civilians

State Department finds it 'reasonable' to believe Israel used US-made weapons in Gaza in a way inconsistent with international law

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the Gaza conflict 'extraordinarily complex'. AP

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday defended a decision to pause a weapons delivery to Israel over concerns they could be used in the Gazan city of Rafah, saying Israel lacked a “credible plan” to protect civilians there.

“We have real concerns about the way they [certain weapons] are used,” Mr Blinken told ABC News's This Week, adding that Israel needs to “have a clear, credible plan to protect civilians, which we haven't seen”.

“At present, the only thing that we've delayed and are holding back are these high-payload bombs, because we're in an continuing conversation with Israel, given the impact that those weapons can have when they're used in populated areas,” Mr Blinken told CBS's Face the Nation.

“When it comes to the use of weapons, concerns about incidents where, given the totality of the damage that's been done to children, women, men, it was reasonable to assess that in certain instances, Israel acted in ways that are not consistent with international humanitarian law.”

He also called the conflict “extraordinarily complex”, and said that it was difficult to determine “exactly what happened and to draw any conclusions” as to breaches of international law.

Mr Blinken declined to define a “red line” on Israel aid but said the US is in active conversations “about the provision of heavy or high-payload weapons”.

In a highly anticipated report sent to Congress on Friday, the State Department said that while Israel may have violated international law, the “provision of defence articles” can still continue.

The Secretary of State reiterated that US would not support a full-scale invasion of Rafah “in the absence of a credible plan to protect civilians”.

The Pentagon confirmed last week that it had paused a shipment of weapons to Israel amid an intensifying assault on Rafah. And President Joe Biden said he would halt other weapons transfers to Israel if it were to invade the southern Gaza city.

Netanyahu praises 'very important step' after seizing Rafah border crossing in Gaza – video

After weeks of threats, Israel issued evacuation orders to civilians in parts of Rafah last week and Israeli forces took over the Gazan side of the border crossing with Egypt.

Israel has insisted it must enter Rafah to achieve its goal of eliminating Hamas and freeing scores hostages taken into Gaza on October 7.

Despite the weapons hold, the US has maintained that Israel continues to need support in its continuing war against Hamas.

Mr Blinken said that in areas that Israel had previously cleared of Hamas elements, the militant group is regrouping, telling NBC's Meet the Press that the shared goal of the US and Israel is ensuring it cannot govern Gaza in the future.

“Israel's on the trajectory, potentially, to inherit an insurgency with many armed Hamas left, or if it leaves a vacuum filled by chaos filled by anarchy and probably refilled by Hamas,” he said.

“We've been talking to them about a much better way of getting an enduring result, enduring security in Gaza itself, and much more broadly in the region. Those conversations continue.”

He added that the US has been working with Israel as well as Arab countries and other partners on such a plan.

As to a potential ceasefire, he said that the quickest way to end the conflict would be “for Hamas to give up the hostages”.

“The fastest way to get hostages home is through an agreement and we're determined every single day to pursue that and to try to get it to happen.”

Talks on a ceasefire and a release of hostages ended in Cairo on Thursday without agreement after Israel said a proposal by Qatari and Egyptian mediators included unacceptable elements.

Hamas said on Friday that efforts to come to a deal were back to square one, with the White House saying it was trying to keep the sides engaged “if only virtually”.

Two hundred days of Israel Gaza war – in pictures

Palestinians move with their belongings on a road lined with destroyed buildings, in Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza Strip, on April 22. AFP

An infant saved from the womb of her mother Sabreen Al Sheikh, who was killed in an Israeli strike along with her husband Shokri and her daughter Malak, lies in an incubator at Al Emirati hospital in Rafah, on April 21. Reuters

A man rides a bicycle, on April 2, past a damaged vehicle where employees from the World Central Kitchen non-profit, including foreigners, were killed in an Israeli air strike. Reuters

A woman at the damaged Al Shifa Hospital, on April 1, after Israeli forces withdrew from the medical complex following a two-week siege. Reuters

The view from a Jordanian flight dropping vital aid by parachute into Gaza, in March. Matthew Kynaston / The National

Nozha Awad flees Al Shifa hospital with her triplet children, after an Israeli raid siege began at the medical complex, in March. Reuters

Palestinians gather to receive aid outside a UNRWA warehouse, in March. Reuters

A family end their fast amid the rubble of their destroyed home, during Ramadan in Rafah, in March. Reuters

Wafaa Tabasi with her twin malnourished daughters, at Al Awda health centre in Rafah, in March. Reuters

Palestinians carry bags of flour taken from an aid lorry near an Israeli checkpoint in Gaza City, in February. Reuters

Fernando Simon Marman and Louis Hare, two Israeli hostages who, according to the Israeli military, were freed in a special forces operation in Rafah, reunite with loved ones at Sheba Medical Centre, in Ramat Gan, Israel, in February. Reuters

Palestinian Muhammad Al Durra with his children in the ruins of a house in Rafah where they sheltered on January 11, 2024. EPA

Family and friends at the funerals of journalists Hamza Al Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuraya on January 7, 2024 in Rafah, Gaza. Getty Images

Palestinians mourn relatives killed by Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip outside a mortuary in Khan Younis January 4, 2024. AP Photo

Displaced Palestinians queue to bake bread at a camp in the Muwasi area of Rafah, Gaza Strip, on December 23, 2023. AP Photo

Palestinians queue for food in Rafah, the Gaza Strip, on December 20, 2023. AP Photo

The ruins of Rafah on December 14, 2023. AFP

Palestinians wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip arrive at a hospital in Khan Younis on December 8, 2023. AP Photo

Palestinians flee Israeli bombing along the Salaheddine Road in the Zeitoun district of Gaza city on November 28, 2023. AFP

A Red Cross vehicle takes Israeli hostages from the Gaza Strip into Egypt in Rafah on November 25, 2023. AP

The ruins of buildings in Gaza city on November 24, 2023, as a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas took effect. AP Photo

A woman and her cat return home to eastern Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip during the first hours of a four-day truce between Israel and Hamas forces on November 24, 2023. AFP

Mourning the dead of Israeli bombardment outside the mortuary at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on November 14, 2023. AFP

Civilians and rescuers look for survivors in the rubble of a building after Israeli bombing of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on November 12, 2023. AFP

November 7, 2023, a month to the day after Hamas attacked Israel, a victim of an Israeli bombardment in Rafah is moved from the rubble. AFP

Searching the rubble after Israeli air strikes on the town of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on October 26, 2023. AP Photo

Mourning the Kotz family at their funeral in Gan Yavne, Israel, on October 17, 2023. AP Photo

An Israeli firefighter composes himself after he and his colleagues extinguished cars set on fire by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip in Ashkelon, Israel, on October 9, 2023. AP Photo

Palestinians with the wreckage of an Israeli tank at the Gaza Strip fence east of the city of Khan Younis on October 7, 2023, the day Hamas forces swept unopposed into Israel. AP Photo

Israeli police officers evacuate a woman and a child from a site hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, southern Israel, on October 7, 2023. AP Photo