US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, photo-collected.
Morningsun Online Desk//

The United States has decided to lift the moratorium on sending arms to Israel amid the operation in Gaza. Several government officials of the two countries confirmed this information to the US media Axios.

A shipment of 1,800 bombs will be sent to Israel soon. Each bomb weighs 500 pounds or 226 kilograms. The Biden administration placed a moratorium on this shipment last April.

Regarding the reason for lifting the suspension, US officials told Axios that, in addition to Hamas, the Israeli Defense Forces have recently started a fierce battle with the Lebanese-based armed Islamic group Hezbollah. This is the main reason why Washington has decided to normalize arms supply to Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced plans to conduct an army operation in the southern city of Rafah in March as part of the operation launched by the Israeli forces in Gaza in response to the surprise attack by Hamas on Israeli territory on October 7, 2023. But the biggest critic of this plan was US President Joe Biden.

Biden’s statement was that if the Israeli forces start an operation in Rafah, there will be a huge loss of life. He also called on Netanyahu several times to refrain from conducting operations in Rafah. But Netanyahu was adamant in his position. His point was the important base Rafa. So the operation in Rafah is essential if Hamas is to be permanently disabled.

After weeks of tension between the Biden administration and Netanyahu at the time, Biden suspended a shipment of arms aid to Israel in late April. Meanwhile, Israel started the operation in Rafah from the beginning of last May.

Source: Axios.