US Halts Bomb Shipment to Israel Amid Concerns Over Rafah Invasion: Official

Washington: The United States, which was once supporting Israel against Hamas, has now decided to halt a shipment of bombs to the country over raising concerns of a full-scale assault in Gaza's Rafah.

A senior White House official on the condition of anonymity revealed that the shipment was supposed to consist of 1,700 500-pound bombs and 1,800 to 2,000-pound bombs, with the US's big concerns over large explosives and how they are used in a dense urban area.

The senior official said that the decision to pause the shipment was made last week and no final decision had been made yet on whether to proceed with the shipment at a later date.

This comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday asserted that the country has started operating in Rafah with Israeli tankers entering the area and its crossing borders seized. Currently, the State Department is separately considering whether to approve the continued transfer of Joint Direct Attack Munition kits, which place precision guidance systems onto bombs, to Israel. Still, the review didn't pertain to imminent shipments. 

In April, the Biden administration began reviewing the future transfers of military assistance to Israel as Netanyahu's government appeared to move forward with the invasion of Rafah, despite months of opposition from the White House.

US President Joe Biden condemned Israel's operation in Rafah, stating that it could bring down Nteanyahu's government if he called off an offensive or made too many concessions in cease-fire talks.

In a video statement, Netanyahu said, "We started operating in Rafah. We replaced the Hamas flags with Israeli flags. We will continue until the absolute victory."

This comes amid the ongoing cease-fire talk between Israel and the terror group Hamas in Cairo. However, on Tuesday, PM Netanyahu said that the proposal accepted by Hamas falls short of Israel's key demands, Reuters reported citing an Israeli media outlet.

(Inputs from AP)