Pentagon chief confirms US pause on weapons cargo to Israel | Israel Conflict on Gaza Information

US Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin has confirmed experiences that the US paused a weapons cargo to Israel, as President Joe Biden’s administration faces rising stress to situation help to the highest US ally amid the conflict in Gaza.

Testifying earlier than a US congressional subcommittee on Wednesday, Austin stated the Biden administration had paused “one cargo of excessive payload munitions” amid issues concerning the Israeli army’s push to invade the southern Gaza metropolis of Rafah.

“We’ve been very clear … from the very starting that Israel shouldn’t launch a serious assault into Rafah with out accounting for and defending the civilians which might be in that battlespace,” Austin instructed US lawmakers.

“We’ve not made a ultimate willpower on how you can proceed with that cargo [of weapons],” the Pentagon chief added, noting that the switch is separate from a supplemental help package deal for Israel that was handed in late April.

“My ultimate remark is that we’re completely dedicated to persevering with to help Israel in its proper to defend itself.”

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, responded to the cargo pause by saying the US choice was “very dissapointing”.

“[US President Joe Biden] can’t say he’s our accomplice within the purpose to destroy Hamas, whereas alternatively delay the means meant to destroy Hamas,” Erdan stated.

Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett, reporting from the White Home on Wednesday, stated the cargo included 1,800 bombs every weighing about 900kg (2,000lbs) and one other 1,700 bombs every weighing 226kg (500lbs).

“There was, main as much as this delay, vital issues on the a part of not solely scholar protesters throughout the US but in addition throughout the president’s personal social gathering … about how these weapons are getting used,” Halkett stated.

US Senator Bernie Sanders welcomed the Biden administration’s pause on the weapons switch, however stated it “should be a primary step”.

“The US should now use ALL its leverage to demand an instantaneous ceasefire, the top of the assaults on Rafah, and the speedy supply of large quantities of humanitarian help to individuals dwelling in desperation,” Sanders stated in a press release. “Our leverage is obvious. Over time, the US has supplied tens of billions of {dollars} in army help to Israel.”

The Biden administration has confronted months of criticism over its “iron-clad” help for Israel amid the Gaza conflict, which has killed greater than 34,000 Palestinians and plunged the enclave right into a dire humanitarian disaster.

However Washington has largely continued to supply army and diplomatic backing to Israel because the conflict grinds on.

Israel stepped up its bombardment of Rafah on Monday, killing dozens of individuals after ordering about 100,000 residents within the metropolis’s japanese areas to evacuate.

Israeli troops additionally stormed the Palestinian facet of the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, which serves as a serious gateway for humanitarian help.

But regardless of persevering with to say it has issues for the destiny of the greater than 1.5 million Palestinians sheltering in Rafah, the US Division of State this week sought to minimize the current strikes by the Israeli military.

“This army operation that they launched final night time was focused simply to [the] Rafah gate,” US State Division spokesman Matthew Miller stated on Tuesday.

“It wasn’t an operation within the civilian areas that they’d ordered to be evacuated. So we are going to proceed to clarify that we oppose a serious army operation in Rafah.”

Human rights advocates have urged the US to do extra to stress the nation to finish its conflict on Gaza, nevertheless, and President Biden faces mounting protests — together with on US faculty campuses — over his stance.

A brand new ballot launched on Wednesday additionally instructed a rising disconnect between Biden and his Democratic Occasion base, which may pose a problem as he campaigns for re-election in November.

The ballot by Knowledge for Progress, in collaboration with information web site Zeteo, instructed that 56 p.c of Democrats believed Israel was committing “genocide” within the besieged Palestinian territory.

It additionally discovered that seven in 10 American voters — and 83 p.c of Democrats — additionally help a everlasting ceasefire in Gaza.

Hasan Pyarali, the Muslim Caucus chairman for Faculty Democrats of America, the college arm of the Democratic Occasion, instructed Al Jazeera final week that many younger individuals have signalled they won’t vote for Biden within the upcoming election.

“It’s not simply good coverage to oppose the genocide; it’s good politics,” he stated.

The United Nations defines genocide as “acts dedicated with intent to destroy, in entire or partly, a nationwide, ethnical, racial or spiritual group”, together with killings and measures to stop births.

In January, the Worldwide Courtroom of Justice — the UN’s prime courtroom — acknowledged there was a believable threat of genocide in Gaza and ordered Israel to take “all measures inside its energy” to stop genocidal acts towards Palestinians.

Israel has rejected the accusation that it’s committing genocide.