According to senior American officials cited by the Wall Street Journalthe United States delayed its latest arms shipment to Israel for fear of a large-scale operation in Rafah, the border town between Gaza and Egypt.
IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari reacted to this information by conceding that there were “disputes” between Israel and the United States but that they were resolved “outside the public scene”, and that the Washington’s assistance to the Jewish state “had never been so important.”
According to published reports, the arms shipment that the Biden administration decided to suspend included 1,800 one-ton bombs and 1,700 250 kg bombs intended for Israeli fighter jets. These munitions could, however, be delivered if it is confirmed that the IDF is operating on a limited basis in Rafah, as it says it wants to do.
On Tuesday evening, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Israel had informed the United States that its operation in Rafah was “limited and designed to prevent Hamas from smuggling arms and funds in Gaza. The Israeli army launched a ground offensive in the Gazan city on Tuesday, seizing the Rafah crossing which it says it wants to occupy temporarily. The day before, the IDF began the evacuation of Palestinian refugees from the east of the city, directing them towards humanitarian areas. The operation was launched after Hamas fired rockets and mortar shells from Rafah, killing four soldiers, and rejected Egypt’s latest proposed truce deal. Since then, the terrorist organization has accepted a counter-proposal, categorically rejected by the Jewish state as it stands. Negotiations therefore resumed in Cairo between the parties, in yet another attempt to reach a compromise.
