Liam Conner
The White House last week halted an arms shipment to Israel as Israeli leaders were making a decision to launch an operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, a senior administration official said Tuesday.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed Wednesday in testimony to Congress that “we have paused a shipment of high payload munitions.”
Meanwhile, the Israeli military announced Tuesday the launch of “targeted attacks“against Hamas in Rafawhich Israel said was Hamas’ last stronghold, after Israel’s War Cabinet approved a military operation in the city.
The US has long argued that Israel should not launch such a major ground operation in Rafah, where more than 1 million people are sheltering after fleeing other parts of Gaza. But U.S. concerns in discussions with Israel about responding to humanitarian needs in Rafah and how to address Hamas have not been sufficiently addressed, the senior administration official said. When Israeli leaders appeared close to a decision on Rafah, the Biden administration began reviewing future transfers of weapons that could be used in Rafah and, as a result, halted a shipment last week, the official said.
That stalled shipment contains 1,800 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs, the first of which, the Biden administration was particularly concerned, could cause severe damage in urban areas, the official said. The senior administration official said the U.S. has not yet decided how to proceed with this specific shipment.
The news of the arms pause comes after days in which the government downplayed the possibility of having delayed a shipment.
Israeli tanks on Tuesday took control on the Gaza side of the Rafah border, near Egypt, as the Israeli operation continues. This means that Gaza’s two main aid corridors are closed.
The senior administration official said the suspended shipment has nothing to do with funding for Israel’s Congress approved last month.
Israel has long threatened a ground attack on Rafah and confirmed the start of Operation Rafah after Israel said a ceasefire proposal that Hamas agreed to is “far from meeting Israel’s main demands.”
Ceasefire negotiations continue in the Middle East and CIA director Bill Burns is in Israel on Wednesday for talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The United States’ decision to suspend weapons shipments — and the willingness of a senior administration official to share the reasoning for the pause — point to the Biden administration’s growing concern about how Israel’s actions are harming Palestinian civilians .
