The US has suspended the supply of bombs to Israel due to developments in Rafah, the minister confirmed

Commercial presentation Update: 05/08/2024 23:31
Issued by: 05/08/2024, 17:26

Washington – The United States has postponed a planned supply of ammunition to Israel and is now reconsidering immediate military support to the Jewish state due to its operations in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. This was stated today by the US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, thus confirming the reports of the US media from the past few days. According to the press, this is the first known case since the beginning of the war in Gaza, when the Americans, because of their disapproval of the actions of the Israeli government, resorted to the supply of weapons. Republicans do not agree with the US government’s move.

“We have suspended one shipment of high payload ammunition,” Austin told a US Senate hearing. He did not specify the amount of ammunition or its parameters. He emphasized that no final decision had been made. According to media reports, the government seized a shipment of 3,500 bombs last week, about half of which are powerful bombs weighing about one ton.

“We are currently reassessing some security assistance deliveries in the short term in the context of what is happening in Rafah,” Austin said.

Behind the scenes, Israeli officials expressed strong indignation to the Americans at their move, US media reported, citing their sources. They express concern that the reduction of military support will jeopardize the negotiations for the release of the Israeli hostages from Gaza. In public statements, the Israelis downplayed the news of the halted delivery of bombs.

Today, Republican congressmen expressed their disapproval of the move by the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden. Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell sent a letter to Biden today criticizing the suspension of the supply. They say the move raises the question of whether the president’s commitment to Israel’s security really is as bulletproof as Biden has previously claimed. Both Republican politicians also complain that they did not receive relevant information from the ministries about the suspension of the supply of ammunition. They called on the administration to disclose how long it would take to assess the supply situation.

Today’s developments bring new signals of increasing tensions between Washington and the Israeli government during the war in Gaza, which Israel launched in response to the attack by the terrorist movement Hamas on October 7 last year. Israeli military operations in the densely populated area have killed thousands of civilians and contributed to a massive humanitarian crisis. US officials, including President Joe Biden, have repeatedly voiced reservations about their Middle Eastern ally’s moves, but until last month the government was still supplying Israel with weapons.

Israel this week stepped up its operations in the area around the city of Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have fled from fighting in recent months. Washington does not agree to a ground attack on the city, and Secretary Austin said today that the United States does not want to see “any significant fighting” there. An unnamed US official told The Washington Post that the delay in delivering the bombs was a “warning shot” to deter the Israelis from attacking.

The first information about the postponement of the delivery of weapons was brought by the news website Axios already on Sunday, and on Tuesday several media reported that the reason for this step was the fear of the use of the bombs in Rafah. According to the press, the matter was decided directly by President Biden, but the White House has so far refused to comment on the development.

Since the start of the war, the United States has supplied Israel with thousands of ton bombs capable of leveling entire apartment buildings and sending shrapnel hundreds of meters away. An analysis by The New York Times at the end of last year found that the Israelis used bombs of this type quite regularly, dropping some of them in the southern Gaza Strip, where they advised civilians from the north to leave.

According to the media, the current reassessment of American military support could also affect other planned deliveries in addition to the mentioned 3,500 bombs. Sources inside the government also mentioned a shipment of 6,500 kits, denoted by the acronym JDAM, which allow bombs to change their trajectory towards their intended target.

All this is happening as the US Congress awaits a report from the Biden administration on whether Israel is following international law in its campaign against Hamas. The government previously announced that it would present the long-awaited assessment to lawmakers today, but this afternoon confirmed behind-the-scenes information that the report is still not ready.

“We expect to deliver it in the very near future, in the next few days,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

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