Has US Stopped Weapons Supply To Israel As Battles Rage Around Gaza's Rafah?

As Israeli troops battled Hamas on the outskirts of the Gaza Strip’s southern city of Rafah on Wednesday, a US official said Washington had halted a shipment of powerful bombs that Israel could use in a full-scale invasion.

This comes as Israel has threatened a major assault on Rafah to defeat thousands of Hamas fighters it says are holed up there. However, the Western nations and the United Nations have warned a full-scale attack on the city would be a humanitarian catastrophe. The United States said it believes a revised ceasefire proposal may lead to a breakthrough in an impasse in Cairo.

‘Behind closed doors’

On Wednesday, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said allies resolve any disagreements “behind closed doors.” When asked about the issue at a Tel Aviv conference, chief military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari described coordination between Israel and the United States as reaching “a scope without precedent, I think, in Israel’s history.” When probed about the stalled delivery of heavy bombs, Hagari said, “We are responsible for the security interests of Israel and we pay attention to the US interests in the arena.”

Hamas said its fighters were battling Israeli forces in the east of Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought refuge from combat further north in the enclave. Islamic Jihad said its fighters attacked Israeli soldiers and military vehicles with heavy artillery near the airport east of Rafah. Around 10,000 Palestinians have left Rafah since Monday, said Juliette Touma, spokesperson for UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. A senior US official said President Joe Biden’s administration paused a shipment of weapons to Israel last week in an apparent response to the expected Rafah offensive.

First such delay

As per agencies, Washington had carefully reviewed the delivery of weapons that might be used in Rafah, and as a result, paused a shipment consisting of 1,800 2,000-lb bombs and 1,700 500-lb bombs. This would be the first such delay since the Biden administration offered its “ironclad” support to Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. A military spokesperson said any disagreements were resolved in private.

Meanwhile, Israeli tanks rolled across the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt on Tuesday, cutting off a vital aid route and the only exit for the evacuation of wounded patients. The complex was closed for a second day on Wednesday, according to the Gaza health ministry, but Israel said it was reopening the other crossing in southern Gaza, Kerem Shalom, through which most aid to Gaza has been delivered recently.

Ceasfire Talks

In Cairo, delegations to negotiations from Hamas, Israel, the U.S., Egypt and Qatar reacted positively to their resumption on Tuesday and meetings were expected to continue on Wednesday, two Egyptian sources said. CIA Director Bill Burns was to travel from Cairo to Israel on Wednesday to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Mossad counterpart, an Israeli government source said. Israel on Monday declared that a three-phase proposal approved by Hamas was unacceptable because terms had been watered down. White House spokesperson John Kirby said a new text presented by Hamas suggests the remaining gaps can “absolutely be closed.”

(With agency inputs)