Shipment paused
The Biden administration paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that the country was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the United States, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Wednesday.
The shipment was supposed to consist of 1800 900kg bombs and 1700 225kg bombs, according to the official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter. The focus of US concern was the larger explosives and how they could be used in a dense urban setting like Rafah where more than 1 million civilians are sheltering after evacuating other parts of Gaza amid Israel’s war on Hamas.
Austin confirmed the weapons delay, telling the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on defence that the US paused “one shipment of high payload munitions”.
“We’re going to continue to do what’s necessary to ensure that Israel has the means to defend itself,” Austin said. “But that said, we are currently reviewing some near-term security assistance shipments in the context of unfolding events in Rafah.”
The US has historically provided enormous amounts of military aid to Israel. That has only accelerated in the aftermath of Hamas’ attack. The pausing of the aid shipment is the most striking manifestation of the growing daylight between Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden, which has called on Israel to do far more to protect the lives of innocent civilians in Gaza.