US slows down aid shipments to Israel over Rafah plans

THE delivery of US military aid to Israel has slowed amid a row over a planned operation in Rafah, a senior Israeli official has said.

With tensions rising between Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and Joe Biden, the US president, the unnamed official said shipments of weapons and ammunition “were coming very fast” after the Oct 7 attacks. But “we are now finding it’s very slow”, the official told US broadcaster ABC, adding Israel was running out of 155mm artillery shells and ammunition for its tanks.

The US president has been at loggerheads with his Israeli ally over deliveries of aid amid the worst war to hit Gaza since Hamas took over in 2007.

Mr Netanyahu has vowed to send ground forces into Rafah city despite growing international concern.

“No amount of international pressure will stop us from realising all the goals of the war,” he said.

Last week, Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader who is also the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the US, said Mr Netanyahu had “lost his way” and should hold an election for a potential replacement.

“I believe that to achieve that lasting peace – which we so long for – Israel must make some significant course corrections,” Mr Schumer said.

Slowing military support is seen as a way for the US to strong-arm Israel into allowing more aid into Gaza.

“We are in a very precarious time now,” an Israeli military source said. “The global perception of the war is impacting heavily on us and the relationship with the US. The influence for the US to somehow slow down

the offensive is something we are very worried about. They’re our most important ally. Most importantly, this is a personal conflict, with the calls against Bibi [Netanyahu] at home and abroad impossible for Biden to ignore.”

Speaking at a cabinet meeting on Sunday, Mr Netanyahu hit out at his allies, saying: “Are your memories that short? Have you so quickly forgotten October 7, the most horrific massacre of Jews since the Holocaust?

“Are you so quick to deny Israel the right to defend itself against the Hamas monsters?”.

As numbers of civilian casualties rise, the US is increasingly coming under fire for supporting Israel’s war effort.

John Kirby, the White House national security communications adviser, said: “We continue to support Israel with their self-defence needs. That’s not going to change, and we have been very, very direct about that.”