The outlet said the bombs were part of a weapons shipment to Israel that the White House paused in April, amid concerns that a Rafah invasion would result in unacceptable civilian casualties.
Citing unnamed American and Israeli officials, Axios said US officials told Defense Minister Yoav Gallant that the White House will continue, however, to withhold 1,800 2,000-pound bombs that were part of the same shipment.
Advisers to President Biden reportedly told Israeli officials that Netanyahu’s public statements on the topic had harmed efforts to release the bombs.
According to the report, Biden’s advisers told Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi that Israel would not receive the withheld shipment for now, because “the president was not taking orders from Netanyahu.”
Gallant traveled to Washington amid a diplomatic row between Israel and the US over the issue of the weapons shipments, following a video posted online by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this month in which he harangued the White House for “withholding weapons and ammunitions to Israel.”
American officials told Gallant that there was never a policy to withhold the 500-pound bombs, but that they were “intermingled” with the 2,000-pound bombs in the same shipment, and as a consequence could not initially be released, Axios reported.
The White House has now agreed to separate the lower-payload bombs from the rest of the shipment, it said. The 500-pound bombs are set to be released after the Rafah offensive ends, which is expected to happen in about two weeks, Axios reported. READ MORE
