While appearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin confirmed reports that the Biden Administration paused a shipment of munitions to Israel.
“We’ve been very clear,” Austin said, “that Israel shouldn’t launch a major attack in Rafah without accounting for and protecting the civilians in that battle space.”
“After assessing the situation, we paused one shipment of high-payload munitions,” he said.
“We’ve also been very clear about the steps that we want to see Israel take” to protect civilians in a major combat situation, he explained. The US doesn’t want such a major IDF combat operation to take place, but if it does proceed, “our focus is on making sure that we protect the civilians.”
Watch the clip below:
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed Wednesday that the U.S. paused a "high-payload" weapons transfer to Israel amid its invasion of Rafah. pic.twitter.com/tJ3vZhhWrB
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) May 8, 2024
From The Jerusalem Post:
Austin stressed that no final decision had been made regarding that shipment or other arms transfers to Israel.
He said the pause in arms did not impact the $26 billion in supplemental aid that Congress approved last month.
The US, he said, remains committed to supporting Israel’s security and its right to self-defense.
More over at The Jerusalem Post:
The United States paused one shipment to Israel of payload munitions due to concerns over Rafah, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said. Read more: https://t.co/tbj1ct6F4F pic.twitter.com/HghwhtsvEq
— The Jerusalem Post (@Jerusalem_Post) May 8, 2024