Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed on Wednesday the U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel over concerns related to protection of civilians ahead of the planned operation into the Rafah area of Gaza.
During a Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee hearing, Austin said the pause comes as the Biden administration continues to review weapons assistance to Israel and reiterated no decision has been made on the final plan for the shipment of munitions.
“We’re going to continue to do what’s necessary to ensure that Israel has the means to defend itself. But that said, we are currently reviewing some near-term security assistance shipments in the context of unfolding events in Rafah,” Austin told the panel. “We haven’t made any decisions. We did pause [that shipment] as we reevaluated some of the security assistance that we’re providing.”
Lawmakers pressed Austin on the status of the weapons assistance, which followed media reports that the U.S. had decided to pause a planned shipment of 2,000-pound bombs and 500-pound explosives to Israel as its operation loomed in Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians have sought refuge during the war.
The weapons that were set to be included in the now-paused shipment were Boeing [BA]-built precision bombs, Politico has reported.
“We’ve been 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 battlespace. And, again, as we have assessed the situation, we paused one shipment of high-payload munitions. And, again, we’ve been very clear about the steps that we’d like to see Israel take to account for and take care of those civilians before major combat takes place. We’d certainly like to see no major combat take place in Rafah. But, certainly, our focus is on making sure that we protect the civilians,” Austin said on Wednesday.
Austin reiterated the Biden administration’s position that its commitment to Israel is “ironclad,” noting the U.S has “flowed billions of dollars of security assistance” in the wake of Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7.
Republican lawmakers on the panel pushed back on the decision to pause the weapons shipment, and pressed Austin on how this would potentially impact the billions of dollars in new assistance for Israel that Congress approved recently.
“Many of us in this room worked hard to get aid included and passed by the House and Senate in the emergency supplemental,” Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) said. “I worry about the suggestion that support by the United States is conditional”
Biden in late April signed the new $95 billion foreign aid supplemental, which included $26.4 billion in further assistance to Israel (Defense Daily, April 24).
“This shipment doesn’t have anything to do with the supplemental appropriations that you just helped us get,” Austin said.