(Washington) The United States suspended the delivery of a shipment of bombs last week after Israel’s lack of response to Washington’s “concerns” about an announced offensive on Rafah, in the south of the Strip. Gaza, a senior US official said on Tuesday.
“We suspended the delivery of a shipment of weapons last week. It consists of 1,800 bombs of 2,000 pounds (907 kg) and 1,700 bombs of 500 pounds (226 kg),” said this senior official in the administration of US President Joe Biden on condition of anonymity.
“We have not made a final decision on how to proceed with this shipment,” he added.
This decision was taken as Washington opposes a large-scale offensive prepared by Israeli troops in Rafah.
Washington has made clear that it does not support an offensive without a credible plan to protect the civilians sheltering there. Joe Biden “reiterated his clear position” to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.
Israeli and U.S. officials have discussed alternatives, but “those discussions are ongoing and have not fully addressed our concerns,” the senior U.S. official said.
“As Israeli leaders appeared to move closer to a decision on such an operation, we began to carefully examine proposals to transfer specific weapons to Israel that could be used at Rafah. It started in April,” explained this senior official.
He added that Washington was “particularly focused” on using the heaviest 2,000-pound bombs “and the impact they could have in dense urban environments like we’ve seen in other parts of Gaza.” “.
The US State Department is also reviewing other arms transfers, including the use of precision bombs known as JDAM (remote guided bomb), the official added.
The Israeli army deployed tanks on Tuesday in Rafah (south), took control of the border crossing with Egypt and closed the two main access points for humanitarian aid (Rafah and Kerem Shalom), a measure considered ” unacceptable” by the United States.