U.S. Halts Bomb Shipment to Israel Amid Concerns Over Rafah Assault, Official Said

By Yoni Weiss

The United States halted a planned shipment of bombs to Israel last week, citing concerns that Israel was nearing a decision to launch a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against U.S. wishes, according to a senior administration official on Tuesday.

The shipment, which was set to include 1,800 2,000-pound (900-kilogram) bombs and 1,700 500-pound (225-kilogram) bombs, was put on hold due to worries over the potential use of the larger explosives in densely populated urban areas.

The U.S. has historically provided significant military aid to Israel, a support that intensified following Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack. The decision to pause the aid shipment underscores the growing divergence between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s government and the Biden administration. President Joe Biden’s administration has urged Israel to take greater measures to safeguard innocent civilians in Gaza.

In April, the Biden administration initiated a review of future military aid transfers amid concerns that Netanyahu’s government was edging closer to an invasion of Rafah, despite months of opposition from the White House. The decision to halt the shipment was made last week, and a final determination on whether to proceed with the delivery at a later date has not yet been made.

While Biden reiterated unwavering U.S. support for Israel, even in times of disagreement, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to directly address the arms holdup in relation to Biden’s supportive stance toward Israel.

Israeli forces seized control of Gaza’s crucial Rafah border crossing on Tuesday in what the White House described as a limited operation aimed at halting Hamas arms smuggling, stopping short of the full-scale invasion of Rafah that Biden has repeatedly cautioned against on humanitarian grounds. Israel has ordered the evacuation of 100,000 Palestinians from the city and conducted targeted strikes in the eastern part of Rafah.

The State Department is separately evaluating whether to approve the continued transfer of Joint Direct Attack Munition kits to Israel, which equip bombs with precision guidance systems, although this review does not involve imminent shipments. While the U.S. has sparingly used the 2,000-pound bomb in its fight against the Islamic State terror group, Israel has utilized it frequently in the seven-month Gaza war.

The relationship between the U.S. and Israel has historically been strong across different administrations, but there have been instances of tension where U.S. leaders have threatened to withhold aid to influence Israeli policies. Notable examples include President Dwight Eisenhower’s pressure on Israel during the Suez Crisis in 1957, Ronald Reagan’s delay in delivering F16 fighter jets amidst escalating violence in the Middle East, and President George H.W. Bush’s withholding of $10 billion in loan guarantees to halt Israeli settlement activity in Yehudah and Shomron.