WASHINGTON – Billions of dollars worth of US 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 that their use in an assault could wreak more devastation on Palestinian civilians.

A senior US official said this week that the administration had reviewed the delivery of weapons that Israel might use for a major invasion of Rafah, a southern Gaza city where more than one million civilians have sought refuge and, as a result, paused a shipment of bombs to Israel.

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 US dollars.

A wide range of other military equipment is due to go to Israel, including Joint Direct Attack Munitions, which convert dumb bombs into precision weapons, and tank rounds, mortars and armoured tactical vehicles, Senator Jim Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters.

Mr Risch said those munitions were not moving through the approval process as quickly as they should be, noting that 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 Mr Biden warned Israel in a CNN interview on May 8 that the US 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 people. 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.

Separately, Representative Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, has put a hold on an US$18 billion (S$24.3 billion) arms transfer package for Israel that would include dozens of Boeing Co. F-15 aircraft while he awaits more information about how Israel would use them.

Mr Biden’s support for Israel in its war against Hamas has emerged as a political liability for the President, particularly among young Democrats, as he runs for re-election in 2024. It fuelled a wave of “uncommitted” protest votes in primaries and has driven pro-Palestinian protests at US universities.

None of those weapons agreements are part of a spending package that Mr Biden signed in April that included about US$26 billion to support Israel and provide humanitarian aid.

Mr Risch and Mr Meeks are two of the four US lawmakers – the chair and ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and chair and ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee – who review major foreign weapons deals.

‘Fingernails’

Mr Netanyahu issued a video statement on May 9 saying Israelis “would fight with their fingernails” in an apparent rebuff of Mr Biden.

Republicans accused Mr Biden of backing down on his commitments to Israel.

“If the commander-in-chief can’t muster the political courage to stand up to radicals on his left flank and stand up for an ally at war, the consequences will be grave,” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said in a Senate speech.

Ten other Senate Republicans held a press conference to announce a non-binding resolution condemning “any action by the Biden Administration to withhold or restrict weapons for Israel”.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters that Israel was still getting the weapons it needed to defend itself. “He (Biden) is going to continue to provide Israel with the capabilities that it needs – all of them,” Mr Kirby said.

Some Congressional Democrats welcomed Mr Biden’s action.

Senator Chris Murphy, the Democratic chair of the Foreign Relations Middle East sub-committee, cited concern about Rafah.

“I do not think it is our strategic or moral interest to help Israel conduct a campaign in Rafah that is likely to kill thousands of innocent civilians and not likely impact Hamas’ long-term strength in a meaningful way,” he told Reuters. REUTERS