US administration approves shipment of 500-pound bombs to Israel and 2,000-pound shipment is still pending and hasn’t been sent
President Joe Biden’s administration will resume shipments of 500-pound bombs to Israel, but will continue to delay sending 2,000-pound bombs because of concerns about their use in the Gaza Strip, according to a US official said on Wednesday.
The United States in May suspended May shipment of 2,000-pound and 500-pound bombs because of concern about the impact it could have in Gaza during a war sparked by a surprise attack by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas across the border on October 7.
The US administration was particularly concerned about the possibility of using such large bombs in Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians have taken refuge.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, “We’ve made it clear that our concern is about the use of two-thousand-pound bombs, especially in the Israel operation in Rafah, which they said they were in the process of completion”.
A single two-thousand-pound bomb can penetrate thick layers of concrete and metal, leaving an explosion half a wide Qatar.
The 500-pound bombs were assembled in the same shipment with the larger bombs that were temporarily suspended and therefore stopped, the US official said.
“Our main concern has been the potential use of two-thousand-pound bombs in Rafah and other areas of Gaza,” he said.
“Because our concern wasn’t about 500-pound bombs, they are moving forward with normal operation,” he added.
A source familiar with the matter said the United States had notified Israel it would release the 500-pound bombs, but would keep the larger ones.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed in June that Washington was withholding weapons and appealed to US officials to resolve the situation.
Biden’s aides, for their part, expressed disappointment and surprise at Netanyahu’s remarks.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant recently visited the United States.
While in Washington, he said significant progress had been made on the supply of US munitions to Israel.
Despite the temporary suspension of one shipment, Israel continued to receive continuous flows of US weapons.
Reuters reported last month that from the start of the Gaza war in October to the end of June the United States shipped at least 14,000 MK-84 2,000-pound bombs, 6,500 500-pound bombs, 3,000 precision-guided air-to-ground Hellfire missiles, 1,000 bunker busters, 2,600 air-dropped small-diameter bombs, and other munitions.
