US to send Israel half-ton bombs, examining ways to speed up weapons transfer if need arises, report says.
Aug 5, 2024, 9:59 AM (GMT+3)
weaponsUS aidBiden administrationSwords of Iron
Joe BidenMiriam Alster/Flash90
The US is sending Israel the weapons shipment which it previously delayed, Israel Hayom reported.
The shipment includes MK-83 bombs, weighing half a ton each, but it is not clear whether the US will send MK-84 bombs, which Israel used, until the US embargo, for many attacks in the Middle East.
The second half of the shipment includes 1,800 MK-84 bombs weighing on ton each, and is still held by Washington.
Israel now believes that the US will remove the limitations on the shipment of heavy weapons, if Israel promises not to use them in specific areas of Gaza.
Israel Hayom also reported that recently, the US released limits on additional munitions as well. Among other things, the US has transferred to Israel weapons which were held in US weapons storehouses in Israel, including air-to-air missiles used by the iAF to intercept UAVs.
The US also intends to send additional munitions to its storehouses, so that in case of need, it will be possible to transfer them quickly.
In June, the Biden administration decided to release 1,700 500-pound bombs that were part of a weapons shipment to Israel put on hold in April over US concerns about the IDF’s military operation in Rafah.
The shipment was sent to Israel shortly afterwards, in early July.
In early May, Axios reported that President Joe Biden decided to put on hold a weapons shipment that was supposed to be sent to Israel.
The White House later confirmed it had paused a shipment of bombs to Israel due to US opposition to a planned Israeli attack on the Gazan city of Rafah.
A day later, Biden warned that he would halt shipments of American weapons to Israel if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a major invasion of the city of Rafah.