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Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told senators Wednesday that the U.S. has paused a shipment of bombs to Israel due to Washington’s concerns over a looming invasion of Rafah, but stressed that no final decision has been made.
Testifying on Capitol Hill, the Pentagon chief argued that the Biden administration’s commitment to Israeli security is still “ironclad” despite the holdup.
“We’re going to continue to do what’s necessary to ensure that Israel has the means to defend itself,” Austin told the Senate Appropriations Committee’s defense subpanel. “But that said, we are currently reviewing some near-term security assistance shipments in the context of unfolding events in Rafah.”
“We haven’t made any decisions,” Austin added. “We did pause as we reevaluated some of the security assistance we’re providing.”
The administration said Tuesday that it pumped the brakes on the shipment of 2,000- and 500-pound bombs to Israel. The delay was meant to send a message to Israel as it appears poised to invade Rafah, where over a million Palestinians are now sheltering.
U.S. leaders have pressed Israel not to launch a ground invasion of the city without a plan to protect civilians.
“We’ve been very clear … that Israel shouldn’t launch a major attack into Rafah without accounting for and protecting the civilians that are in that battlespace,” Austin told senators. “And again as we have assessed the situation, we have paused one shipment of high-payload munitions.”
“I think we’ve also been very clear about the steps we’d like to see Israel take to account for, take care of those civilians before major combat takes place,” he added. “We certainly would like to see no major combat take place in Rafah. But certainly our focus is on making sure we protect the civilians.”
President Joe Biden has been under pressure from some fellow Democrats to leverage military assistance to Israel to rein in its military operation in Gaza. But the move has drawn swift condemnation from Republicans on Capitol Hill, who argued the U.S. is contradicting the will of Congress after lawmakers passed more than $14 billion in funding to help Israel in its fight against Hamas.
Austin underscored that the shipment is unrelated to the latest tranche of funding Congress approved last month. But still he faced questions over whether holding up the arms shipment sends the wrong signal in the Middle East.
“I worry about the suggestion that support by the United States is conditional,” said Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), who asked Austin about the arms transfer during the budget hearing.
