The U.S. decision follows a pressure campaign by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and pro-Israel U.S. lobbyists, including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, who called for the resumption of all weapons shipments, regardless of lethal force.
Despite the pressure campaign and initial blockade, U.S. officials said the 500-pound bomb was never a serious concern for the Biden administration.
“Due to how these shipments are put together, there may be other munitions mixed in. That’s what happened with the 500-pound bomb. Our main concern is the possibility of a 2,000-pound bomb being used in Rafah or other places in Gaza, and that remains the same,” the U.S. official said. Gave a speech The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive weapons deliveries.
While the tempo of Israeli military operations in Gaza has slowed somewhat, Israeli attacks remain heavy casualties, including an attack on a school sheltering Palestinian refugees near Khan Yunis on Tuesday, killing at least 25 people and wounding more than 50, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Israel targets airstrikes Hamas Fighter aircraft.
The decision to partially lift the ban on shipments from the United States was first reported by Israel’s Channel 12.
The United States initially withheld the provision of larger bombs as a “warning” expressing serious U.S. concerns about Netanyahu’s plans to invade Rafah, a city in southern Gaza where more than one million Palestinians are sheltering.
President Biden Israel had said any major operation would cross a “red line” and lead to the suspension of U.S. aid. U.S. officials later said Israel’s operations, including the one on May 26 that killed at least 46 Palestinians, had never crossed that red line. Israeli bombing of Tal al-Sultan tent camp.
U.S. officials said the attack on Rafah was far more precise than Israel’s other operations in Khan Younis and Gaza City. Last week, the IDF sent a large group of reporters to parts of Rafah for the first time. The reporters described the city as: It is in a “destroyed state” and nearly empty.
Janet Abu Elias, a research fellow at the Washington-based think tank the Center for International Policy, said the destructive power of a 500-pound bomb should not be underestimated. “In densely populated areas of Gaza, the difference in destructive power between a 500-pound bomb and a 2,000-pound bomb is small, and both would cause significant destruction and civilian casualties,” she said.
