Move would mark significant pivot in relations as
pressure builds on Israel to pull back from attack
Julian
Borger in Washington and Peter Beaumont in London
Wed 8 May
2024 20.00 CEST
US
officials have signalled to Israel that more arms shipments could be delayed if
the Israeli military pushes ahead with an offensive in Rafah, Gaza, in what
would mark the start of a major pivot in relations between the two countries.
Lloyd
Austin, the US defence secretary, confirmed on Wednesday that the Biden
administration had paused the supply of thousands of large bombs to Israel, in
opposition to apparent moves by the Israelis to invade the city.
“We’ve been
very clear … from the very beginning that Israel shouldn’t launch a major
attack into Rafah without accounting for and protecting the civilians that are
in that battle space,” Austin told a Senate hearing.
“And again,
as we have assessed the situation, we have paused one shipment of high payload
munitions,” he said, adding: “We’ve not made a final determination on how to
proceed with that shipment.”
Gilad
Erdan, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, said he did not believe the US would stop
supplying arms to Israel, but called Washington’s decision to hold up some
weapons shipments “very disappointing”, even frustrating.
Joe Biden
“can’t say he is our partner in the goal to destroy Hamas while on the other
hand delay the means meant to destroy Hamas”, Erdan told Israel’s Channel 12
News.
But US
officials confirmed that the pause would not be a one-off if the Rafah
offensive went ahead: other arms deliveries that have already been approved
could be delayed, and shipments waiting for approval could also face obstacles,
such as a pending consignment of 6,500 joint direct attack munitions, or JDAMs,
which convert freefall “dumb bombs” into precision-guided weapons.
A Guardian
investigation this week found a US-made JDAM was used in a March airstrike in
southern Lebanon that killed seven health workers. Analysis of debris found at
the site of the attack revealed shrapnel from a 500lb (227kg) Israeli MPR bomb,
as well as the parts of the JDAM that connect the munition to the guidance
system and remnants of its motor.
The US
administration has refused to use the phrase “red line” but has stressed that
Biden was serious when he told Benjamin Netanyahu in a call on 4 April that an
attack on Rafah would lead to a significant re-evaluation of the relationship.
The weapons
– 1,800 2,000lb bombs and 1,700 500lb bombs – had long been seen by experts as
the most likely to be targeted for any potential restrictions on arms supplies
to Israel given how destructive they are in urban settings.
US
officials insist that the pause is not because of legal concerns, but is a
policy decision. There is nervousness in the administration about making legal
judgments in case they are used against Israel in legal disputes before the
international criminal court and the international court of justice.
However,
the Guardian understands that conversations in recent months have focused on
how the Israeli military’s use of certain munitions diverges from the
Pentagon’s rules on the use of such weapons in heavily populated urban
settings.
Biden has
been trying to head off a full-scale assault by Israel against Rafah, where
battles raged on the outskirts on Wednesday, once again displacing
Palestinians. Rafah’s mayor, Ahmed al-Sofi, warned that the southern city was
“on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe of unprecedented proportions” in an
appeal to the international community on Wednesday. “The streets of the city
echo with the cries of innocent lives lost, families torn apart, and homes
reduced to rubble,” he said.
The highly
significant US move on arms supplies comes amid mounting international pressure
on Israel to pull back from a full-scale attack after its seizure on Tuesday of
Rafah’s border crossing with Egypt, and criticism of Israel’s use of large
aerial munitions in areas packed with civilians.
Austin’s
comments confirmed earlier briefings by unnamed officials that the weapons
shipment had been held up because of Israel’s threat of a full-scale offensive
in Rafah.
”We are
especially focused on the end use of the 2,000lb bombs and the impact they
could have in dense urban settings as we have seen in other parts of Gaza. We
have not made a final determination on how to proceed with this shipment,” one
US official said.
A second US
official, also speaking anonymously and quoted by the Washington Post, said the
decision was a “shot across the bow” intended to convey to Israel the
seriousness of US concerns about the Israeli offensive in Rafah.
An Israeli
military spokesperson attempted to play down the shipment delay – saying that
allies resolve any disagreements “behind closed doors”. However, the move
appeared to mark a significant moment in US policy.
While the
US, EU, UK and other countries have pursued an escalating sanctions campaign
against extremist Israeli settlers and far-right organisations, against the
background of the Gaza war and settler violence on the West Bank, US attention
has moved recently to the Israel Defense Forces.
The weapons
hold-up comes against the background of the expected delivery of a report by
the US Department of State that examines whether Israel’s war conduct is
credibly in compliance with assurances that American-supplied weapons will not
be used in contravention of US and international humanitarian law.
The White
House and Pentagon declined to comment.
Israeli
forces on Tuesday seized the main border crossing between Gaza and Egypt in
Rafah, cutting off a vital route for aid into the Palestinian territory. On
Monday, the Israeli army had called on 100,000 people in eastern Rafah to
evacuate.
Despite the
assault in Rafah, the US has said it believes a revised Hamas ceasefire
proposal may lead to a breakthrough as talks resume in Cairo. Israel had
previously said the terms in the proposal had been softened, but the White
House spokesperson John Kirby said the new text suggested the remaining gaps
could “absolutely be closed”.
The CIA
director, William Burns, is to travel to Israel on Wednesday to meet Netanyahu,
a source said.
The delays
to US arms shipments appeared to be the first since the Biden administration
offered its full support to Israel after Hamas launched its 7 October attack,
in which about 1,200 people were killed and about 250 others were abducted, of
whom 133 are believed to still be in captivity in Gaza, according to Israeli
tallies.
The latest
Israel military actions have seen aid crossings closed to traffic, raising
global alarm about the delivery of key supplies to the coastal strip.
While the
Rafah border crossing to Egypt remained closed, the Israeli military said it
was reopening another main aid crossing into Gaza, Kerem Shalom, as well as the
Erez crossing in the north.
The UN
agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, however, said the Kerem Shalom
crossing, which Israel shut after a rocket attack killed four soldiers on
Sunday, remained closed on Wednesday.
Israel’s
campaign to destroy Hamas has led to a seven-month military campaign that has
killed 34,789 Palestinians, most of them civilians, the Gaza health ministry
has said.
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