US President Joe Biden’s administration suspended the shipment of a weapons shipment to Israel last week in opposition to the imminent invasion of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. The information was revealed this Wednesday, 8, by a senior White House official to the Reuters news agency.
Biden has been pressing the Israeli government to avoid a large-scale attack on Rafah, which is home to some 1.4 million Palestinians (more than half of Gaza’s population), most of whom have taken refuge in the city due to fighting elsewhere. of the enclave.
According to Reuters, the White House has begun to “carefully review” planned shipments of specific weapons to Israel, which could be used in Rafah, starting in April. At that moment, Tel Aviv began to give concrete indications that it was considering a ground incursion into the city.
“As a result of this review, we suspended a weapons shipment last week. It consists of 1,800 900-kilogram bombs and 1,700 200-kilogram bombs,” the US government official told Reuters.
More specifically, the paused shipments involved Joint Direct Attack Munitions manufactured by Boeing, which convert so-called “dumb bombs,” which lack precision, into high-precision guided bombs, as well as small-diameter bombs.
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“We are especially focused on the end use of the 900-kilogram bombs and the impact they could have in dense urban environments, as we have seen in other parts of Gaza. We have not yet made a final decision on how to proceed with this shipment”, added the official.
According to the news agency, shipments were delayed for at least two weeks.
The pause in shipments of military supplies comes as Washington increases public pressure on Israel to postpone its planned offensive in Rafah, at least until it has taken measures to prevent civilian deaths.
On Tuesday 7, Israeli forces captured the main border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, in Rafah, cutting off a vital route for humanitarian aid to enter the Palestinian enclave. Furthermore, they began bombing the city, after ordering 100,000 civilians to leave the area.
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Without addressing whether there was actually a delay in American weapons shipments to Israel, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reaffirmed that Washington’s commitment to the ally’s security in the Middle East was “firm”. But when asked about reports of disruption in deliveries of military equipment, she added: “Two things can be true. In the sense that we have these tough, direct conversations with our counterparts in Israel to ensure that the lives of citizens will be protected, and to get that commitment.”
The Pentagon said on Monday that there was no “political decision” to withhold arms deliveries to Israel, the United States’ closest ally in the explosive Middle East region.
However, the postponement of shipments was the first of its kind since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, during which the Biden administration offered its full support to Tel Aviv.
