The United States has temporarily halted bomb deliveries to Israel after it failed to respond to Washington's concerns over plans to invade the southern Gaza town of Rafah, a senior US official was quoted by AFP as saying.
"We stopped a shipment of weapons last week. It consisted of 1,800 bombs weighing 907 kg. and 1,700 bombs weighing 226 kg," a senior official in President Joe Biden's administration said on condition of anonymity.
"We have not made a final decision on how to proceed with this shipment," the official added.
The Biden administration made that decision when it appeared that Israel was on the verge of a major ground operation in Rafah, which Washington strongly opposes.
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 be nearing the point of deciding on such an operation, we began to look carefully at proposed transfers of specific weapons to Israel that could be used in Rafah. This began in April."
The U.S. official said Washington was "particularly focused" on the use of the heaviest 2,000-pound bombs "and the impact they could have in densely populated urban areas, as we have seen in other parts of Gaza."
The U.S. State Department is still reviewing other weapons transfers, including the use of precision bomb kits known as JDAMs, the official added.
After vowing for weeks to enter the southern border town, Israel on May 6 called on Palestinians in eastern Rafah to leave the "expanded humanitarian zone" ahead of the ground incursion. The White House said earlier that Israel had promised it would be a "limited operation." /BGNES
