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US confirms pause on bomb shipments to Israel as it pushes into Rafah
Insights from The Washington Post, UNICEF, the BBC, CBS News, and Al Jazeera
The News
The US paused a shipment of bombs to Israel over concerns about the looming invasion of Rafah, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday. However, he reiterated Washington’s “ironclad” commitment to the nation.
Israel reopened the Kerem Shalom crossing into the Palestinian enclave, a key gateway for humanitarian aid, but the Rafah crossing into Egypt remains shuttered.
Delivery of food and other aid into Gaza has been severely curtailed throughout the war and humanitarian assistance is desperately needed.
On Tuesday the US military said it has completed construction of a pier aimed at increasing aid into Gaza — but poor weather conditions have delayed its installation. High winds and sea swells mean that the pier cannot be moved into position, a Pentagon spokesperson said.
SIGNALS
US pause is first public effort to draw ‘red line’ on Rafah invasion
US leaders, who have urged Israel not to invade Rafah without a credible plan to protect civilians, delayed the bomb shipment to “send a message to Israel,” Politico reported. Austin said the US is reviewing some of its weapons sales to Israel “in the context of unfolding events in Rafah,” while reiterating that Washington will “continue to do what’s necessary to ensure that Israel has the means to defend itself.”
President Joe Biden has struggled with how to exert pressure on Israel to limit civilian casualties while remaining a strong ally to the nation. Biden warned in March that an offensive on Rafah would be a “red line” for the US, and this shipment pause “appeared to be the first public attempt to draw that line,” The Wall Street Journal reported.
Rafah incursion poses huge humanitarian risks
There are 1.2 million internally displaced Palestinians living in Rafah, a southern city near the Egyptian border. Half of those are children with thousands seriously injured or sick from diseases contracted during the war, according to UNICEF. Israel said it is pressing ahead with an incursion into the city, which it argues is the last Hamas stronghold in the enclave. But there are huge risks to the people living there: “There’s no way to evacuate this number of people safely,” Nebal Farsakh, a spokesperson for the Palestine Red Crescent Society, told The Washington Post. Residents were given limited warning of the Israel Defense Forces pending operations in Rafah, she said, and nearby areas are poorly equipped to handle an influx of refugees.
Kerem Shalom crossing allows some aid in, but not enough
The Kerem Shalom crossing’s reopening means some trucks are able to enter Gaza — but they fall far short of the number required to address a possible famine and the needs of Gazans. The United Nations has repeatedly warned of widespread hunger in the enclave. The still-closed Rafah crossing is a “lifeline” for humanitarian aid, Al Jazeera noted, and is the only exit point for injured people and foreign passport-holders. Trucks shipping aid into Gaza have been diverted through Kerem Shalom for now, the BBC reported Wednesday. Israel now controls every entry point into Gaza for the first time in two decades.
