US halts bomb shipments to Israel amid concerns of full-scale Rafah invasion as Biden’s rift with Netanyahu deepens

The US halted a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel is nearing a decision on launching a full-scale attack on the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

The shipment would consist of 1,800 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs, according to a senior government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue.

More than 1 million civilians are sheltering in Rafah after evacuating other parts of Gaza during Israel’s war against Hamas, which followed the militant group’s deadly attack on Israel on October 7.

The US has historically provided enormous amounts of military aid to Israel. That has only accelerated in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, which killed about 1,200 people in Israel and led to about 250 people being captured by militants.

The pause on aid shipments is the most striking manifestation of the growing rift between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and President Biden’s administration. has called on Israel to do much more to protect the lives of innocent civilians in Gaza.

Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on buildings near the separation wall between Egypt and Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip

The official said the decision to pause shipments was made last week and that no final decision had been made on whether shipments would continue at a later date.

It also comes as the Biden administration is set to issue a first-of-its-kind formal ruling this week on whether the airstrikes on Gaza and restrictions on aid deliveries violate international and U.S. laws designed to to spare civilians from the worst horrors of the fight against Gaza. war.

A decision against Israel would further increase pressure on Biden to curb the flow of weapons and money to the Israeli military.

The Biden administration began reviewing future military aid transfers in April as Netanyahu’s government appeared to move closer to an invasion of Rafah, despite months of opposition from the White House.

The official said the decision to pause the shipment was made last week and that no final decision had been made on whether the shipment would continue at a later date.

U.S. officials declined to comment for days on the halted transfer, with Biden describing U.S. support for Israel on Tuesday as “rock solid, even if we don’t agree with it.”

Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to square the gun raid with Biden’s rhetoric in support of Israel, saying only: “Two things could be true.”

Israeli forces took control on Tuesday Gaza’s crucial border crossing at Rafah in what the White House described as a limited operation That stopped just before the large-scale Israeli invasion of the city that Biden has repeatedly warned about on humanitarian grounds, most recently during a Monday call with Netanyahu.

President Joe Biden speaks during the US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s annual Days of Remembrance ceremony at the US Capitol, May 7, 2024 in Washington

Smoke rises after the Israeli airstrike on Rafah, Gaza on May 7, 2024

A Palestinian youth inspects damage in a destroyed building after the Israeli bombardment of Tal al-Sultan district in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 7, 2024

Israeli tanks also entered Rafah during the operation to eliminate Hamas fighters and infrastructure.

Israel has ordered the evacuation of 100,000 Palestinians from the city. Israeli forces have also carried out what they described as “targeted attacks” on the eastern part of Rafah and captured the Rafah crossing, a crucial conduit for the flow of humanitarian aid along the Gaza-Egypt border.

Concern has grown within the White House about what is happening in Rafah, but administration officials have stressed that they did not believe the operations had defied Biden’s warnings against a large-scale 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 scope and duration” aimed at cutting off Hamas’ arms trafficking , but also said the US would monitor the fighting.

Israeli bombing of Rafah in southern Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel on May 7, 2024

A man stands on the rubble after an Israeli airstrike in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on May 7, 2024

Just last month, Congress passed a $95 billion national security bill that also included funding for Ukraine, Israel and other allies.

The package included more than $14 billion in military aid to Israel, although the stalled transfer was not related to that measure.

The State Department is separately considering whether to approve continued transfers of Joint Direct Attack Munition kits, which place precision guidance systems on bombs, to Israel, but the review did not address upcoming shipments.

The US dropped the £2,000 bomb sparingly in its long war against the Islamic State militant group.

Israel, on the other hand, has used the bomb extensively in the seven-month war in Gaza. Experts say the weapon’s use has partly contributed to the huge number of Palestinian casualties, which the Hamas-led Health Ministry estimates at more than 34,000 dead, although it does not distinguish between militants and civilians.