USA stated this Wednesday that it is evaluating the possibility of freezing more weapons supplies to Israel, after suspending a bomb delivery due to the invasion plan of Rafah, a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip.
Speaking to a congressional committee, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed that the shipment of 1,800 2,000-pound (907-kg) bombs and another 1,700 500-pound (226-kg) bombs was frozen last week.
“We interrupted a shipment of ammunition” to Israel, but we have notmade a final decision on how to proceed with that shipment”Austin said.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the United States is very concerned about Israel’s plans to enter Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians have taken refuge during the war.
“So we have suspended one short-term aid shipment and are reviewing others,” said.
But the United States maintains a “long-term commitment” with Israel’s security, he added, citing US help in April to shoot down drones fired from Iran.
The United States examines “the way in which Israel has carried out its operations in the past and what the impact has been on the civilian population”, Miller reported.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to enter Rafah as part of his campaign to annihilate Hamas after Hamas commandos carried out attacks in Israel on October 7.
That day, Hamas members killed 1,170 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped about 250.
Israel estimates that after a hostage exchange for Palestinian prisoners in November, 128 people remained captive in Gaza, 36 of whom are feared dead.
Israel launched a retaliatory offensive that has already left 34,844 dead in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Ministry of Health of the territory, governed since 2007 by Hamas.
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Source: Gestion
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