The US is “suspending bomb shipments” to Israel as anger grows over the death toll in Gaza

The U.S. government has suspended a bomb shipment to Israel for the first time in Gaza’s ongoing conflict with Hamas, a senior official said, amid growing anger over the war’s impact on Palestinian civilians.

The suspension came last week amid concerns that Israel would launch a large-scale attack on the city of Rafah, the senior administration official said. Israeli forces seized control of the Rafah border crossing on Tuesday, but Washington downplayed it as it failed to prevent the impending city-wide attack.

The move signals the strongest discontent yet by President Joe Biden’s administration toward its Israeli allies, which is under increasing pressure over the war in the U.S. ahead of the election, including from students staging a series of sit-ins across the country.

The shipment was to consist of 1,800 bombs weighing 2,000 pounds each and 1,700 bombs weighing 500 pounds each, according to the administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Concern is expected to grow in the Biden White House about the use of heavy bombs in the densely populated Gaza Strip if Israel presses ahead with an offensive in Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians have sought shelter from fighting further north.

More than 34,700 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 civilians.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the United States is Israel’s leading arms supplier, accounting for nearly 70% of its arms imports, with Germany and Italy accounting for the rest.

After the Hamas attack in October, U.S. shipments increased, including thousands of guided bombs and rockets, the think tank said. British arms exports make up a small portion of Israel’s total exports. According to government figures, the UK has licensed more than £574 million worth of weapons to Israel since 2008.

But campaigners say this does not take into account the state-of-the-art F35 fighter jets exported from the US, 15% of which are manufactured in the UK. And the SNP is calling on the British government to stop arms sales to Israel because of the war’s toll on Palestinian civilians.

Cabinet minister Claire Coutinho said: “We have a very strict policy when it comes to arms exports.”

However, it called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to work with its allies on a plan to protect civilians in Rafah in the event of a major offensive.

“Throughout this terrible war we have made it very clear that we must ensure that aid can get to Gaza and that civilians can be protected,” the Secretary of State for Energy Security said on LBC.

“That is why it is very important that we see this plan and we are deeply concerned about these measures.”

Mr Netanyahu insists the war will continue until Hamas is wiped out of Gaza and has rejected an apparent breakthrough in peace talks this week after the Palestinian group said it was open to another hostage-prisoner. Exchange.

The Israeli leader called the capture of the border crossing an “important step” in dismantling Hamas’s military and governance capabilities, and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel would “deepen” the Rafah operation if talks in Cairo over the hostage deal fail.