The United States, Israel’s closest ally and major arms supplier, has reportedly halted or delayed shipments of some weapons and bombs to Israel because of the Rafah attack.
According to reports in the US press, a senior official, who asked not to be named for reasons of confidentiality, made statements about the shipment.
The official claimed that the shipment to Israel consisted of 1,800 900-kilogram bombs and 1,700 225-kilogram bombs, and claimed that they were concerned about how these bombs would be used in densely populated areas.
The official claimed that the US decided to stop the shipment last week after Israel decided to attack Rafah from the ground, adding that it was unclear whether the shipment would be resumed later.
Reuters, on the other hand, reported that the arms shipments had been postponed for two weeks.
Reuters noted that the White House and the Pentagon declined to comment on the issue, and that this would be the first delay in US arms shipments to Israel since 7 October.
The Israeli army announced yesterday morning that it had launched a ground offensive in the Rafah area, seizing the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing from Gaza into Egypt.
The Wall Street Journal also claimed yesterday that the Joe Biden administration in the US has postponed the sale of some 6,500 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs), which Israel is allegedly using in Gaza.
On the other hand, according to the Times of Israel, the Israeli military is trying to play down the US administration’s suspension of arms shipments, saying that the allies resolve all disputes ‘behind closed doors’. According to the report, military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari responded to a question at a conference hosted by the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper by saying that coordination between Israel and the United States had reached ‘a level that has no precedent in history’.
