Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday that the U.S. has paused a shipment of “high-payload” munitions to Israel for review over concerns about a potential military offensive on the Gazan city of Rafah.
The paused delivery was supposed to contain 3,500 bombs, split roughly evenly between 2,000-pound (907-kilogram) and 500-pound explosives, according to a senior administration official. Austin said no final decision has been made on the shipment.
Israel needs to account for the protection of civilians in Rafah, where the U.S. would like to see “no major conflict take place,” Austin told a Senate Appropriations panel. The U.S. is worried about the damage the large bombs could inflict on dense urban areas like Rafah, where about 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering from Israel’s war with Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office declined to comment on the weapons delay, and it’s unclear if this delay will have much impact on the military’s operations in Gaza. Still, it speaks to growing tensions between Netanyahu and President Joe Biden, who’s voiced opposition to an attack on Rafah and reiterated that message in a call between the leaders on Monday.
Washington has stepped up its criticism of Israel in recent months, saying it’s not doing enough to protect civilians and allow aid into the besieged Palestinian territory, parts of which the United Nations says are on the verge of famine. At the same time, Biden has said his support for Israel is ironclad and he’s defended its right to pursue a strategy of destroying Hamas, an Islamist group backed by Iran.
Austin was questioned about the delayed bomb shipment by a member of the congressional panel. “Does this not send the wrong message to our ally Israel and embolden Iran and Iranian-backed groups?” asked Senator Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican. “We should not signal to our enemies that our support is conditional.”
Biden’s decision marks one of the most significant moments of discord between Israel and its most important ally since Hamas’s Oct. 7 assault, which started the war. Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., killed 1,200 people and abducted roughly 250 when its fighters stormed into southern Israel from Gaza.
Israel’s retaliatory bombardment and ground offensive on the Mediterranean enclave have killed almost 35,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Past pauses
This isn’t the first time the U.S. has used this kind of tool against Israel, though its far from commonplace.
Former President Barack Obama delayed the delivery of Hellfire missiles for several weeks in 2014 during a previous round of Gaza fighting. Before that, Ronald Reagan halted a shipment of cluster-type artillery shells after Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982. And Richard Nixon held off providing arms for the first week of the 1973 Yom Kippur war.
George H W Bush withheld billions in loan guarantees in the early 1990s to protest the building of Jewish settlements in Palestinian territories, but didn’t touch arms sales.
Biden told Netanyahu last month, following the killing of World Central Kitchen aid workers in an Israeli strike, that ongoing U.S. support for the war would depend on new steps to protect civilians.
The U.S. recently signed a foreign-aid package that contains billions of dollars of fresh assistance for Israel. The paused bomb shipment isn’t connected to those funds, Austin said. Arms transfers that are under review were drawn from previously appropriated money, and the White House is committed to ensuring Israel gets all the new national security aid, he said.
The U.S. has urged Israel not to attack Rafah unless it can move out the civilians first. American officials have serious doubts that can be done quickly and safely.
This week, Israel told residents in some parts of eastern Rafah to move out immediately in a possible prelude to an assault. It urged them to travel north to a “humanitarian area” near the Gazan city of Khan Younis, much of which has been destroyed. Israel says it’s working to ensure there will be enough tents, food and medicine for the civilians.
Israel’s military also took control of and closed the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt on Tuesday. It’s the main entry point for aid going into Gaza and the United Nations said it should be reopened quickly.
On Wednesday, Israeli officials did reopen the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing and said trucks with humanitarian supplies were moving into Gaza. It was shut on Sunday after rocket fire from Hamas killed four Israeli soldiers.
Rafah talks
For now, Israeli officials are saying their operations in Rafah are limited and are downplaying the notion that a full-on offensive has begun.
Discussions between American and Israeli officials over Rafah are continuing and have yet to fully address the U.S.’s concerns, the American official said. William Burns, head of the Central Intelligence Agency, traveled to Jerusalem on Wednesday to speak to Netanyahu about his plans for the city and cease-fire negotiations with Hamas.
“Two things can be true at once,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Tuesday, without addressing the weapons-transfer pause. “Israel has a right and a responsibility to defend itself, and we’re going to continue to provide for their security and help them with that. And at the same time, they have a right and obligation to be careful about civilian casualties and getting more humanitarian assistance in.”
The truce talks remain stuck over Hamas’s demand that any pause in fighting is effectively permanent. Israel says the war can’t end — even if there’s a break for a weeks-long truce — until Hamas surrenders or is defeated as a military and governing organization.
Since the war started in October, the U.S. has shipped more than 200 planeloads of weapons and ammunition to help Israel. Biden has said there are no circumstances under which he would stop sending ammunition for Israel’s defense, including those used for the Iron Dome system, which intercepts rockets and missiles fired at the Jewish state.
Reliance on US
The U.S. is the biggest supplier of arms to Israel. It was the source of almost 70% of imports between 2014 and 2018, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
A recent Finance Ministry report suggests that Israel will be heavily dependent on U.S. weaponry for years to come. Its needs will probably rise because of the war in Gaza and increased defense spending to counter threats such as those from Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.
Germany and Italy are among the next-biggest exporters of ammunition and defense items to Israel. Italy has stopped all new weapons sales to the Jewish state — as is normally does when a country is at war — but is still fulfilling deals agreed before Oct. 7.
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