After being suspended, Washington agrees to ship 500-pound bombs to Israel

Washington plans to resume shipping 500-pound bombs to Israel, as the devastating war on the Gaza Strip continues for the ninth month.

Reuters quoted an American official (who declined to be identified) as saying, yesterday, Wednesday, that the administration of President Joe Biden will resume shipping 500-pound bombs to Israel, but will continue to postpone sending 2,000-pound bombs.

In May, the United States suspended a shipment of 2,000-pound and 500-pound bombs over concerns about the Israeli military assault on Rafah.

"We have made it clear that our concern is with the use of 2,000-pound bombs, particularly in the Israeli operation in Rafah," the US official added. He explained that the 500-pound bombs were bundled into the same shipment as the larger bombs that were temporarily suspended and thus stopped.

He noted that "our main concern was and remains the potential use of 2,000-pound bombs in Rafah and other areas of Gaza... and because our concern was not related to the 500-pound bombs, they are proceeding as part of the normal process."

Last month, Axios quoted an American and an Israeli official as saying that the United States was preparing to deliver 500-pound bombs that had been delayed to Israel. The American official explained that the matter was discussed during Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant’s visit to Washington.

Reuters revealed earlier that the United States had shipped to Israel, since the beginning of the war on Gaza until last June, no less than 14,000 2,000-pound bombs, 6,500 500-pound bombs, 3,000 precision-guided air-to-ground Hellfire missiles, 1,000 bunker-busting bombs, and 2,600 small-diameter bombs dropped by air, in addition to other weapons and ammunition.

The Washington Post also reported that the United States has provided military aid to the Israeli occupation army worth more than $6.5 billion since the start of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.

Since October 7, 2023, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza with American support, leaving more than 126,000 Palestinian martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing amid massive destruction and famine that has claimed the lives of dozens of children.