U.S. pauses weapons shipment to Israel, as major crossing reopens to Gaza aid

Israel reopened the Kerem Shalom crossing on its border with the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, as aid trucks routed through from Egypt were already undergoing security inspections there, a statement from Israeli officials said. 

The crossing had been closed in the aftermath of a deadly Hamas rocket attack last Sunday.

However, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNWRA) said no aid has yet entered and there is no one to receive it on the Palestinian side. 

UNRWA director of communications Juliette Touma said no aid had entered as of midday Wednesday and that the UN agency had been forced to ration fuel, which is imported through Rafah.

U.S. withholds weapons

The Biden administration on Tuesday night confirmed reports that it had recently held up a large shipment of 2,000- and 500-pound bombs that it feared Israel might use in a major ground operation in the densely populated southern Gaza city of Rafah.

This would be the first such delay since the Biden administration offered its full support to Israel after Hamas' October 7 attack. Washington is Israel's closest ally and main weapons supplier.

The paused shipment was supposed to consist of 1,800 bombs each weighing 2,000 pounds (900 kilograms) and 1,700 smaller ones, with the U.S. concern focused on how the larger bombs could be used in a dense urban setting. The official said no final decision had been made yet on proceeding with the shipment.

President Joe Biden's decision to hold up delivery of high payload munitions to Israel was taken in the context of Israel's plans to carry out an offensive in Rafah that Washington opposes without new civilian safeguards, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Wednesday.

"We've been very clear...from the very beginning that Israel shouldn't launch a major attack into Rafah without accounting for and protecting the civilians that are in that battlespace. And again, as we have assessed the situation, we have paused one shipment of high payload munitions," he told a Senate hearing.

"We've not made a final determination on how to proceed with with that shipment."

Asked about the issue at a Tel Aviv conference hosted by the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, chief military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari described coordination between Israel and the United States as reaching "a scope without precedent, I think, in Israel's history."

A senior Israeli official, asking not to be named, said "if we have to fight with our fingernails, then we'll do what we have to do." 

Israel's army spokesperson said coordination between allies was unmatched and any disagreements were resolved in private.

Battles around Rafah

The Israeli military said Wednesday morning that troops killed several gunmen and located tunnel shafts during "a precise counterterrorism operation in specific areas of eastern Rafah."

Hamas said its fighters were battling Israeli troops in the east of the city, where thousands of Palestinians have sought refuge from combat elsewhere in the enclave. 

Throughout the past day, IDF fighter jets and aircraft struck over 100 targets throughout the Gaza Strip, including military structures, observation posts, launch posts and additional military infrastructure, according to an Israeli statement. 

During several encounters over the past day, IDF troops eliminated fighters and uncovered infrastructure, as well as underground shafts in several locations in the eastern Rafah area. 

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Talks in Cairo

Talks aimed at agreeing a ceasefire resumed in Cairo on Wednesday "in the presence of all parties", Egyptian media reported. 

A senior Hamas official said the latest round of negotiations would be "decisive".

"The resistance insists on the rightful demands of its people and will not give up any of our people's rights," he told AFP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the negotiations.

Despite the latest Israeli assault on Rafah and fighting elsewhere in Gaza, the United States said it believes a revised Hamas ceasefire proposal may lead to a breakthrough in the ceasefire impasse.

CIA Director Bill Burns was to travel from Cairo to Israel on Wednesday to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli officials, a source familiar with his travel said.

Israel on Monday declared that a three-phase proposal approved by Hamas was unacceptable. 

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