Administration officials said Tuesday night that President Biden paused weapons shipments to Israel last week to prevent the use of American-made weapons in a long-threatened attack on Rafah city, administration officials said on Tuesday night, a sign of the growing rift between Washington and Jerusalem over the issue. wage war.
Officials said the president rejected 1,800 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs that he feared could be dropped on Rafah, where more than a million Gazans are sheltering. The administration is considering whether to delay future deliveries, including sets of instructions for converting so-called silent bombs into precision-guided munitions.
The decision to delay the transfer of 3,500 bombs is the first time Mr. Biden has used his power to reduce arms as a tool to influence Israel’s approach to war since the terrorist attack by Hamas. leader on October 7. Some of Mr. Biden’s Democratic allies in Congress have urged him for weeks Restrict or suspend weapons shipments to Israelsomething he has so far refused to do because of his strong support for the war against Hamas.
Israeli officials revealed the temporary suspension of weapons to Axios earlier this week, but US officials refused to confirm this information at briefings or privately until Tuesday evening. The fact that they ultimately did so is a clear sign of the growing level of frustration among administration officials that their Israeli counterparts did not heed American warnings about a A major operation in Rafah could result in widespread civilian casualties. Confirmation of the arms suspension came just hours later Israel sent tanks into the city in southern Gaza.
A US official said the administration began reviewing the arms shipments last month when it became clear that Israel appeared to have reached a decision on the Rafah operation. Mr. Biden initially maintained that Israel should not attack Rafah without a plan to effectively minimize civilian casualties, but in recent weeks the White House has increasingly indicated that it does not believe that Such a plan might even be possible.
Israel has not said clearly whether it is prepared to launch an attack on Rafah, but in the past few days there have been actions that seem to indicate they are moving in that direction. Israeli forces ordered the evacuation of 110,000 civilians from Rafah and launched airstrikes against targets in the city’s border areas in response to a Hamas rocket attack that killed four Israeli soldiers over the weekend. via.
Israel called the insertion of tanks into Rafah and the seizure of the city’s border crossing with Egypt on Tuesday a limited operation aimed at destroying Hamas militants and infrastructure linked to the arrow attack. fire. These actions do not appear to be a precursor to the larger offensive that Israel has promised. But the evacuation order and limited military moves appeared to be on target continue to put pressure on Hamas while Negotiators meet in Cairo to discuss a possible truce.
Mr. Biden did not mention the decision to refuse bombing during the period a speech the previous Tuesday at a Holocaust memorial service at the Capitol, but reiterated his support for Israel. “My commitment to the safety of the Jewish people, the security of Israel and its right to exist as an independent Jewish state is unwavering even if we disagree,” he said. ”.
The administration did not halt all weapons to Israel nor permanently disavow the bombs involved. In fact, officials said the administration just approved the latest round of aid worth $827 million in weapons and equipment. The administration plans to deposit “every dollar” of the money just appropriated by Congress, officials said.
But they said they were especially worried about the damage 2,000-pound bombs could cause in a dense urban area like Rafah with so many displaced civilians.
