Israel strikes Rafah as US warns invasion could halt arms shipments

‘I’m not supplying the weapons’ for a full ground assault on the city: President Biden

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Gaza Strip/WASHINGTON Israeli tanks and warplanes bombarded areas of Rafah on May 9, Palestinian residents said, after US President Joe Biden vowed to withhold weapons from Israel if its forces launched a major invasion of the southern Gaza city.

As ceasefire talks continued in Cairo, Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad said their fighters fired anti-tank rockets and mortars at Israeli tanks massed on the eastern outskirts of the city.

Residents and medics in Rafah, the only major urban area in Gaza not yet invaded by Israeli ground forces, said an Israeli attack at a mosque killed at least three people and wounded others in the eastern Brazil neighbourhood.

Video footage from the scene showed the minaret lying in the rubble, two bodies wrapped in blankets and a wounded man being carried away.

On the city's eastern edge, residents said a helicopter opened fire, while drones hovered above houses in several areas, some close to rooftops.

Israel says Hamas militants are hiding in Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought refuge after fleeing combat elsewhere in Gaza, and it needs to eliminate them for its own security.

One of the displaced, Mr Mohammad Abder-Rahman, said he feared the Israeli bombardments presaged an invasion of the city.

"It reminds me of what happened before Israeli tanks stormed our residential areas in Gaza City," the 42-year-old told Reuters via a messaging app. "Heavy bombardment usually allows tanks to roll towards places they intend to invade." Ceasefire talks in Egypt's capital made some headway, but no deal was reached, according to two Egyptian security sources.