US to resume shipping 227kg bombs to Israel, US official says
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An Israeli military vehicle manoeuvring near the Israel-Gaza border in Israel on July 10.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden’s administration will resume shipping 227kg bombs to Israel but will continue to hold back on supplying 907kg bombs over concerns about their use in densely populated Gaza, a US official said on July 10.
In May, the US paused a shipment of 907kg and 227kg bombs
The administration’s particular concern had been the use of such large bombs in Rafah, where more than one million Palestinians had taken refuge.
“We’ve been clear that our concern has been on the end use of the (907kg) bombs, particularly for Israel’s Rafah campaign which they have announced they are concluding,” a US official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
One 907kg bomb can rip through thick concrete and metal, creating a wide blast radius.
The US official said the 227kg bombs were put together in the same shipment with the larger ones that were paused and therefore got held up.
“Our main concern had been and remains the potential use of (907kg) bombs in Rafah and elsewhere in Gaza... Because our concern was not about the (227kg) bombs, those are moving forward as part of the usual process,” the official added.
The US has notified Israel that it is releasing the 227kg bombs but keeping hold of the larger ones, a person familiar with the matter said.
In June, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Washington was withholding weapons, and pleaded with US officials to remedy the situation. Mr Biden’s aides expressed disappointment and confusion over the Israeli leader’s remarks.
During his visit to Washington, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said there had been significant progress on the issue of US munitions supply to Israel, adding that “obstacles were removed and bottlenecks were addressed”.
Despite the pause on one shipment, Israel has continued to receive a steady flow of US weaponry.
Reuters reported in June that between the start of the Gaza war in October 2023 and end-June, the US transferred at least 14,000 of the MK-84 907kg bombs, 6,500 227kg bombs, 3,000 Hellfire precision-guided air-to-ground missiles, 1,000 bunker-buster bombs, 2,600 air-dropped small-diameter bombs, and other munitions.
International scrutiny of Israel’s military operation in Gaza has intensified as the Palestinian death toll from the war has exceeded 38,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, and has left the coastal enclave in ruins.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict began on Oct 7
