The United States has suspended sending an arms shipment to Israel that includes heavy bombs it uses In its war on the people of Gaza and its campaign against the fighters of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the Strip, which resulted in the martyrdom of more than 34,800 Palestinians so far.
The comment comes at a time when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues a military attack on the Palestinian city of Rafah despite the objection of US President Joe Biden.
A Reuters report attempted to provide answers to common questions about this matter within the limits of available data and information.
What bombs have their transmissions suspended?
American officials said that Washington had suspended sending a shipment consisting of 1,800 bombs, each weighing 2,000 pounds (907 kilograms), and 1,700 bombs, each weighing 500 pounds (about 227 kilograms).
Four sources reported that the shipments, which were postponed for at least two weeks, include munitions manufactured by Boeing that convert “dumb” bombs into precision-guided bombs, in addition to small diameter bombs (SDB-1).
The SDP-1 bomb is a precision-guided glide bomb that contains 250 pounds (about 113 kilograms) of explosives.
These shipments were part of a shipment that had been approved earlier, and were not part of an additional aid package worth $95 billion approved by the US Congress last April.
Why does the United States prevent sending these bombs?
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at a Senate hearing yesterday, Wednesday, that the United States is reviewing “near-term security assistance in light of the current events in Rafah.”
Austin added, “We were very clear from the beginning that Israel should not launch a major attack on Rafah without taking into account the civilians on the battlefield and protecting them.”
More than a million Palestinian civilians are taking refuge in Rafah, many of whom were previously displaced from other parts of Gaza after Israel ordered them to evacuate.
An American official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the American decision was made out of fear of “the eventual use of 2,000-pound bombs and the impact they might cause in densely populated urban areas, as we saw in other parts of Gaza,” adding that the United States carefully reviewed the delivery of weapons that May be used in Rafah.
When was the decision made? Did Biden participate?
US officials said the decision was made last week. President Joe Biden participated directly in it. Biden confirmed the matter himself during an interview with CNN yesterday.
When asked about the 907-kilogram bombs sent to Israel, he said: “Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a result of these bombs and other ways in which they target population centers.”
What damage could these huge bombs cause?
Large bombs, such as those weighing 907 kilograms, have a large area of impact. The United Nations says that “the pressure resulting from the explosion is capable of tearing lungs, exploding sinus cavities and severing limbs hundreds of meters from the site of the explosion.”
The use of large-scale explosives in a densely populated area “is very likely to have indiscriminate effects or violate the principle of proportionality,” a 2022 International Committee of the Red Cross report said.
What is Israel’s response?
Israel denies targeting Palestinian civilians and says its interest is in eliminating Hamas, and that it is taking all necessary precautions to avoid unnecessary killing.
After the news was revealed the day before Tuesday in Washington, a senior Israeli official declined to confirm the report. “If we have to fight tooth and nail, we will do what we have to do,” the source said. A military spokesman said that any disagreements are resolved in closed sessions.
Was Israel’s use of these bombs in Gaza legal?
This is a hotly debated issue. International humanitarian law does not explicitly prohibit aerial bombardment in densely populated areas, but civilians cannot be targets, and the specific military objective must be proportional to the potential civilian casualties or damage.
What does the International Criminal Court say?
The statute of the International Criminal Court investigating Israel’s war in Gaza classifies an intentional attack as a war crime when it is known that civilian deaths or harm would be “manifestly excessive” in relation to any direct military advantage.
Has Washington blocked military aid to Israel before?
Yes, in 1982. Then-President Ronald Reagan imposed a six-year ban on cluster weapons sales to Israel after a congressional investigation concluded that it had used these weapons in populated areas during its 1982 invasion of Lebanon.
Israel’s use of American-made cluster bombs was also subject to review during the era of former US President George W. Bush because of concerns about its use during the 2006 war with Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon.