US delayed arm shipments to Israel to send message against Rafah assault
By Mike Stone, Steve Holland and Phil Stewart
Washington: US President Joe Biden’s administration has paused a shipment of weapons to Israel in opposition to apparent moves by the Israelis to invade the Gazan city of Rafah, a senior administration official said.
Biden has been trying to head off a full-scale assault by the Israelis against Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought refuge from combat elsewhere in Gaza.
US President Joe Biden and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Credit: AP
The US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that as Israeli leaders seemed to approach a decision on whether to attack last week, “we began to carefully review proposed transfers of particular weapons to Israel that might be used in Rafah” beginning in April.
“As a result of that review, we paused one shipment of weapons last week. It consists of 1800 2000-pound bombs and 1700 500-pound bombs,” the official said, referring to general purpose bombs designated by their weight.
“We are especially focused on the end-use of the 2000-pound bombs and the impact they could have in dense urban settings as we have seen in other parts of Gaza. We have not made a final determination on how to proceed with this shipment.”
The delay comes at a time when Washington is publicly pressuring Israel to postpone its planned offensive in Rafah until after it has taken steps to avert civilian casualties.
The White House and Pentagon declined comment.
Without addressing whether there had been a hold-up in arms shipments, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reaffirmed that Washington’s commitment to Israel’s security was “ironclad”.
Still, when asked about the reports on the arms hold-ups, she added: “Two things could be true, in the sense of having those conversations, tough, direct conversations with our counterparts in Israel ... in making sure citizens lives are protected ... and getting that commitment.”
The Pentagon said on Monday that there had not been a policy decision to withhold arms from Israel, America’s closest Middle East ally.
Still, the delays appeared to be the first since Biden’s administration offered its full support to Israel following Hamas’ October 7 attack, which killed about 1200 people with about 250 others abducted, of whom 133 are believed to remain in captivity in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s campaign to destroy Hamas has led to a seven-month-long military campaign that has killed a total of 34,789 Palestinians, most of them civilians, the Gaza Health Ministry said.
The conflict has also left many of Gaza’s 2.3 million people on the brink of starvation and sparked protests in the US demanding that universities and Biden withdraw support for Israel - including the provision of weaponry.
A senior Israeli official, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, did not confirm any specific hold-up in arms supplies but appeared to take the reports in stride: “As the prime minister has already said, if we have to fight with our fingernails, then we’ll do what we have to do.”
Close the gaps
The US said negotiations on a Gaza ceasefire should be able to close the gaps between Israel and Hamas while Israeli forces seized the main border crossing in Rafah on Tuesday, closing a vital route for aid.
Hamas official Osama Hamdan, speaking to reporters in Beirut, warned that if Israel’s military aggression continued in Rafah, there would be no truce agreement.
The Palestinian militant group accused Israel of undermining ceasefire efforts in the seven-month-long war that has laid waste to Gaza and left hundreds of thousands of its people homeless and hungry.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the operation along the Gaza-Egypt border in eastern Rafah that began on Tuesday was not a full-on Israeli invasion of the city, which Biden has repeatedly warned against on humanitarian grounds. Kirby said Israel described it as “an operation of limited scale and duration” aimed at cutting off Hamas arms smuggling.
Kirby also expressed optimism about the negotiations, saying Israel and Hamas “should be able to close the remaining gaps” to complete an agreement. He said CIA chief William Burns would attend further talks in Cairo with representatives from Israel, Egypt and Qatar. Hamas also sent a delegation to Cairo, which will meet separately with the Arab mediators.
“Everybody is coming to the table,” Kirby said.
The deal text, as amended, suggests the remaining gaps can “absolutely be closed”, he said. He declined to specify what those were.
On Monday, Israel said a three-phase proposal that Hamas approved was unacceptable.
Kirby said mediators from Qatar and Egypt, along with US and Israeli officials, were gathering in Cairo. Hamas separately said its delegation was in Cairo as well.
Reuters, AP
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