US paused bomb shipment to Israel over Rafah concerns

The United States paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns it was pressing ahead to launch a full-scale ground invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the US, a senior administration official has revealed.

The shipment was supposed to consist of 1,800 2,000lb (907kg) bombs and 1,700 500lb (226kg) bombs, according to the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter, the Associated Press reported.

With over a million civilians sheltering in Rafah after evacuating other parts of Gaza amid Israel’s war on Hamas, the focus of concern from the US was on how the larger explosives could be used in a “dense urban setting”.

While the US dropped the 2,000-pound bomb sparingly in its long war against the Islamic State militant group, Israel has used the bomb frequently in the seven-month-long Gaza war. Experts say the use of the weapon, in part, has helped drive the enormous Palestinian casualty count that the Hamas-run health ministry – which does not distinguish between militants and civilians – puts at more than 34,000 dead.

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.

Four sources also said the shipments – which have been delayed for at least two weeks – involved Boeing-made Joint Direct Attack Munitions, which place precision guidance systems onto bombs, as well as Small Diameter Bombs, Reuters news agency reports.

The Biden administration in April “began to carefully review proposed transfers of particular weapons to Israel that might be used in Rafah” as Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s government appeared to move closer toward an invasion of Rafah despite months of opposition from the White House, the official said.

They added that the decision to pause the shipment was made last week as a result of that review, and that no final decision had been made yet on whether to proceed with the shipment at a later date.

The US has historically provided significant military aid for Israel, which has ramped up in the aftermath of Hamas’ 7 October attack that killed some 1,200 in Israel and led to about 250 being taken captive by militants.

But this pausing of the aid shipment is the most striking manifestation of the growing daylight between Mr Netanyahu’s government and the administration of US President Joe Biden, which has called for Israel to do more to protect the lives of innocent civilians in Gaza.

It also comes as the Biden administration is due to deliver a first-of-its-kind formal verdict this week on whether the airstrikes on Gaza and restrictions on delivery of aid have violated international and US laws designed to spare civilians from the worst horrors of war. A decision against Israel would mount further pressure on Mr Biden to curb the flow of weapons and money to Israel’s military.

US officials had declined for days to comment on the halted transfer, word of which came as Mr Biden on Tuesday described US support for Israel as “ironclad, even when we disagree.”

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to square the arms holdup with Mr Biden’s rhetoric in support of Israel, saying only, “Two things could be true… in the sense of having those tough, direct conversations with our counterparts in Israel … in making sure citizens lives are protected … and getting that commitment.”

Israeli troops on Tuesday seized control of Gaza’s vital Rafah border crossing in what the White House described as a limited operation that stopped short of the full-on Israeli invasion of the city that Mr Biden has repeatedly warned against on humanitarian grounds, most recently in a Monday call with Mr Netanyahu.

Israel has ordered the evacuation of 100,000 Palestinians from the city, while its forces have also carried out what it describes as “targeted strikes” on the eastern part of Rafah and captured the Rafah crossing, a critical conduit for the flow of humanitarian aid along the Gaza-Egypt border.

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Privately, concern has mounted inside the White House about what is unfolding in Rafah, but publicly administration officials have stressed that they did not think the operations had defied Mr Biden’s warnings against a widescale operation in the city.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Israel described the operation along the Gaza-Egypt border in eastern Rafah as “an operation of limited scale and duration” aimed at cutting off Hamas arms smuggling, but also said the US would monitor the fighting.

Just last month, Congress passed a $95bn (£76bn) national security bill that included funding for Ukraine, Israel and other allies. The package included more than $14bn (£11bn) in military aid for Israel, though the stalled transfer was not related to that measure.

The State Department is understood to be separately considering whether to approve the continued transfer of Joint Direct Attack Munition kits to Israel, but the review didn’t pertain to imminent shipments.

The US-Israel relationship has been close through both Democratic and Republican administrations, but there have been other moments of deep tension since the founding in which US leaders have threatened to hold up aid in attempt to sway Israeli leadership.

President Dwight Eisenhower pressured Israel with the threat of sanctions into withdrawing from the Sinai in 1957 in the midst of the Suez Crisis, while Ronald Reagan delayed the delivery of F16 fighter jets to Israel at a time of escalating violence in the Middle East.

President George H.W. Bush held up $10bn (£8bn) in loan guarantees to force the cessation of Israeli settlement activity in the occupied territories.

The White House and Pentagon declined comment.

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: “The prime minister has already said, if we have to fight with our fingernails, then we’ll do what we have to do.”

Additional reporting from agencies