“I made it clear that 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,” Biden said on Wednesday in an interview with CNN.

Biden acknowledged US weapons have been used by Israel to kill civilians in Gaza, where Israel has mounted a seven-month-old offensive aimed at annihilating Hamas.

Israel’s campaign has so far killed 34,789 Palestinians, mostly civilians, the Gaza Health Ministry said.

“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centres,” he said when asked about 2,000-pound bombs sent to Israel.

Biden said the US would continue to provide defensive weapons to Israel, including for its Iron Dome air defence system.

“We’re going to continue to make sure Israel is secure in terms of Iron Dome and their ability to respond to attacks that came out of the Middle East recently,” he said.

“But it’s, it’s just wrong. We’re not going to – we’re not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells.”

Israel this week attacked Rafah, where more than one million Palestinians have sought refuge, but described it as a limited operation.

A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Washington had carefully reviewed the delivery of weapons that might be used in Rafah and as a result paused a shipment consisting of 1800 2000-pound (900kg) bombs and 1700 500-pound (225kg) bombs.

The interview was released hours after Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin acknowledged publicly Biden’s decision last week to hold up the delivery of thousands of heavy bombs was taken out of concern for Rafah, where Washington opposes a major Israeli invasion without civilian safeguards.

Israel’s campaign in Gaza was triggered by Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel. That killed about 1200 people with about 250 others abducted, of whom 133 are believed to remain in captivity in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has also told Israel that the federal government opposes a Rafah assault.

“What we have done again is to communicate to Israel our opposition for a ground invasion in Rafah because we’re concerned about the civilian population there,” he said on Thursday.

“They were told to move from the northern part of Gaza. They were told to move south … it’s not clear where they are supposed to go, given the destruction that’s occurred to housing in other parts of Gaza.

“So we are very concerned about that.”

An offensive in Rafah would increase civilian deaths, suffering and destruction “beyond already unbearable levels”, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said.

Albanese affirmed Australia’s commitment to a two-state solution ahead of a United Nations General Assembly vote to include Palestine as a fully-fledged member.

However, the vote is non-binding.

It’s the government’s longstanding position to recognise a Palestinian state, but no timeline has been attached.

Moving ahead with recognition would benefit the path to peace, Foreign Minister Penny Wong has said.

The United States, which is also exploring recognition, vetoed a UN Security Council resolution for Palestine’s accession into the organisation.

– AAP