US pauses weapons delivery to Israel over Rafah offensive concerns: Reports
Al Jazeera
Biden’s administration paused shipment of weapons in effort to prevent full-scale assault on Rafah, official says.
US President Joe Biden’s administration paused a shipment of weapons to Israel last week in opposition to apparent moves by the Israelis to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah, a senior administration official has said.
Biden has been trying to head off a full-scale assault by the Israelis against Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought refuge from fighting elsewhere in Gaza.
The AFP, Associated Press and Reuters news agencies on Tuesday reported unnamed United States officials saying that the US began to “carefully review proposed transfers of particular weapons to Israel that might be used in Rafah” in April when it seemed Israel appeared close to making a decision on the assault.
“As a result of that review, we have paused one shipment of weapons last week. It consists of 1,800 2,000-lb (900kg) bombs and 1,700 500-lb (225kg) bombs,” the official said.
“We are especially focused on the end-use of the 2,000-lb bombs and the impact they could have in dense urban settings as we have seen in other parts of Gaza. We have not made a final determination on how to proceed with this shipment,” the official was quoted as saying. The news agencies said he spoke on condition of anonymity given the issue’s sensitivity.
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