WASHINGTON: The United States said Wednesday (May 8) it was considering potential further holds on weapons to Israel after it halted shipments of powerful bombs out of concern about plans for a Rafah invasion.
Speaking to a congressional committee, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed the freeze last week on 907kg bombs and 226kg bombs.
“We paused one shipment of high-payload munitions” for Israel but have not “made a final determination on how to proceed with that shipment”, Austin said.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the United States had very serious concerns about Israel’s stated plans to go into Rafah, where more than one million Palestinians have taken shelter during the war.
“So we have paused one shipment of near-term assistance and we are reviewing others,” Miller said.
But he said that the United States still had a “long-term commitment” to Israel’s security and pointed to US assistance last month in shooting down drones fired from Iran.
