US to resume shipping 500-pound bombs to Israel, US official says

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US President Joe Biden’s administration will resume shipping 500-pound bombs to Israel but will continue to hold back on supplying 2,000-pound bombs over concerns about their use in densely populated Gaza, Reuters reports quoting a US official.

The administration’s particular concern is the use of such large ordnance in Rafah, where over one million Palestinians had taken refuge.

“We’ve been clear that our concern has been on the end-use of the 2,000-lb (pound) bombs, particularly for Israel’s Rafah campaign which they have announced they are concluding,” a US official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

The US official said the 500-pound bombs were put together in the same shipment with the larger ones that were paused and therefore got held up.

“Our main concern had been and remains the potential use of 2,000 lb bombs in Rafah and elsewhere in Gaza […] Because our concern was not about the 500 lb bombs, those are moving forward as part of the usual process,” the official added.

The US has notified Israel that it is releasing the 500-pound bombs but keeping the hold on the larger ones, a person familiar with the matter said.

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