Israel due to get billions of dollars of U.S. weapons despite pause on bombs

A wide range of other military equipment is due to go to Israel, U.S. officials said, as Republicans accused the Biden administration of abandoning commitments to its defence.

Billions of dollars worth of U.S. weaponry remains in the pipeline for Israel, despite the delay of one shipment of bombs and a review of others by President Joe Biden’s administration, concerned their use in an assault could wreak more devastation on Palestinian civilians.

The administration paused a shipment of 2,000-pound heavy bombs to Israel after reviewing the delivery of weapons that Israel might use for a major invasion of Rafah, a southern Gaza city where over 1 million civilians have sought refuge, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin publicly confirmed Wednesday.

Washington has long urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government not to invade Rafah without safeguards for civilians, seven months into a war that has devastated Gaza.

Congressional aides estimated the delayed bomb shipment’s value as “tens of millions” of U.S. dollars.

A wide range of other military equipment is due to go to Israel, including joint direct attack munitions (JDAMS), which convert dumb bombs into precision weapons; and tank rounds, mortars and armored tactical vehicles, Senator Jim Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters.

Risch said those munitions were not moving through the approval process as quickly as they should be, noting some had been in the works since December, while assistance for Israel more typically sails through the review process within weeks.

Biden administration officials have said they are reviewing additional arms sales, and Biden warned Israel in a CNN interview on Wednesday that the U.S. would stop supplying weapons if Israeli forces make a major invasion of Rafah.

Israel’s assault on Gaza was triggered by an Oct. 7 attack by Islamist Hamas militants, which by its tallies killed 1,200. The subsequent Israeli bombardment has killed some 35,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, and displaced the majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million people.