Israel’s role in the Suez Crisis: Israel and the U.S. Foreign Aid Package During the 1956 October 7 Israeli-Hamas Attack
Eisenhower pressured Israel to pull out of the Sinai in the middle of the Suez Crisis in 1957, when he was president. Ronald Reagan delayed the delivery of F16 fighter jets to Israel at a time of escalating violence in the Middle East. President George W. Bush had $10 billion in loan guarantees to stop Israeli settlement activity in the occupied territories.
Military aid for Israel has historically been provided by the U.S. More than a thousand people were killed in the October 7th attack in Israel by Hamas and around 250 were taken captive by the group. The growing daylight between Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and the US administration of President Joe Biden, which has called on Israel to do far more to protect the lives of innocent civilians in Gaza, is one of the reasons why the aid shipment was paused.
The U.S. dropped the 2,000-pound bomb sparingly in its long war against the Islamic State militant group. Israel, by contrast, has used the bomb frequently in the seven-month Gaza war. The heavy use of the weapon has helped drive the Palestinian casualty count that the Hamas-run health ministry puts at over 34,000 dead, according to experts.
The State Department is considering whether or not to approve the transfer of Joint Direct Attack Munition kits which place precision guidance on bombs to Israel, but the review isn’t about imminent shipments.
The shipment that is currently paused is not part of the recently passed foreign aid bill, which included $26 billion in aid and relief for Israel and Gaza. Israel will receive the funding appropriated by Congress from that bill, the official said.
For months, Israel has vowed to launch a Rafah military operation regardless of whether there is a cease-fire with Hamas. The events which led up to the offensive in Rafah include more than half of Gaza’s population seeking shelter.
The White House is concerned about what’s happening in the city, but the administration has said they do not think the operations went against Biden’s warnings.
Netanyahu gives instructions to the military to present plans to the Cabinet for a military operation that would wipe out Hamas battalions in the city.
Military Aid to Israel in the War on Hamas: Jean-Pierre, Biden, Austin, Griffiths, Martin Griffiths and Gaza
Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to square the arms holdup with Biden’s rhetoric in support of Israel, saying only, “Two things could be true.”
The US had kept silent for days on the halted transfer, but as Biden said the U.S. support for Israel was “ironclad even when we disagree”.
The administration of Biden began to review future transfers of military assistance as Netanyahu’s government moved closer to an attack on the Sinai Peninsula, despite opposition from the White House. The official said the decision to pause the shipment was made last week and no final decision had been made yet on whether to proceed with the shipment at a later date.
The shipment was supposed to consist of 1,800 2,000-pound (900-kilogram) bombs and 1,700 500-pound (225-kilogram) bombs, according to the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter, with the focus of U.S. concern being the larger explosives and how they could be used in a dense urban setting. More than 1 million civilians are sheltering in Rafah after evacuating other parts of Gaza amid Israel’s war on Hamas, which came after the militant group’s deadly attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
Palestinians with the means to do so start to pay thousands of dollars for Egyptian visas to enter Egypt from Gaza, with many describing this as extortion and bribery. The U.N. describes Gaza as “uninhabitable” and warns of the risk of famine.
The first aid trucks enter Gaza since the start of the war through the Rafah crossing after President Biden visits Israel and speaks with Egypt’s president. There are large trucks on Egypt’s side of the border.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warns in a speech that the war in Gaza can only be won by protecting civilians, saying “the center of gravity is the civilian population.” He says otherwise Israel risks replacing “a tactical victory with a strategic defeat.”
Martin Griffiths tells WBUR that there is no place for people to shelter in Gaza. “Now, we know today that diplomacy hasn’t worked,” he said, calling it a point of irreversible tragedy. He asked where people go to find safety if Rafah isn’t safe. I dread to think what will happen if they try to break out into Egypt because Egyptians don’t want a big new caseload of Palestinians.
The UN Security Council voted in favor of a cease-fire when the Secretary General invoked Article 99 for the first time. He warns of “increased mass displacement into neighboring countries,” a veiled reference to pressure on Palestinians in Rafah and the threat of forced displacement into Egypt. The U.S. is the lone veto of the resolution, with 13 nations voting in favor and the U.K. abstaining.
At the Tel Aviv press conference, Benjamin Netanyahu was asked about a stretch of land in Gaza that borders Egypt. He said the Philadelphi Corridor must be closed. Demilitarization that we want and must guarantee is not guaranteed by any other arrangement.
According to the White House, President Biden told Netanyahu that a military operation in Rafah should not proceed without a plan to ensure the safety of people in the area.
Israel’s military frees two hostages from Rafah in a raid that kills at least 70 Palestinians, including scores of children, according to media reports quoting Gaza’s health ministry.
Israeli military chief of staff Aviv Kochavi and Shin Bet director Ronen Bar meet with senior Egyptian officials, according to a report by prominent Israeli news outlet Walla, and assure them that an operation in Rafah will be coordinated with them. Egypt and Israel maintain close security coordination. Publicly, Egypt continues to warn against an assault on Rafah.
The number of killed in the Gaza war: a warning from Israel on a humanitarian catastrophe? Israeli demands for a possible cease-fire
The death toll in Gaza has risen by more than 30,000. The ministry says most of those killed are women and children, and says its estimate of those killed by Israeli attacks is an undercount as thousands of people remain missing or trapped under the rubble. The death toll is not a breakdown of how many people were killed.
The European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, warns that a humanitarian catastrophe is possible if an operation takes place in Rafah. He repeats calls not to attack Rafah in April and May.
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby tells reporters that a major ground attack in Rafah “is a mistake” and that the White House is in discussion with Israel’s government on alternative ways to eliminate Hamas in Gaza.
The chair of Egypt’s State Information Service is questioning if Israel fully understands the meaning of Egypt’s warnings against entering Rafah. Will it put Egypt in a position where it will have no idea how Israel will react if it chooses this option, since peace has lasted 45 years?
Foreign ministers from the Group of 7 countries, led by the U.S., say they oppose a full-scale Israeli military operation in Rafah, warning of catastrophic consequences for the civilian population there. The group calls for a “credible and actionable plan” that protects civilians.
Israeli news organizations reported that the Israeli military freed up troops in central Gaza to fight an assault on Sinai, because the military decided to mobilize two brigades for Gaza.
A Hamas delegation in Cairo presents mediators with questions and concerns over the Israeli parameters of a possible weeks-long cease-fire that could free Israeli hostages held in Gaza and Palestinian detainees held in Israel. Hamas says it wants guarantees of Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza and an eventual end to the war.
Biden’s Threat to Withhold Arms in the Rafah Reasearch Field: Associated NPR and the White House
President Biden says that he has threatened to withhold some weapons to Israel if it proceeds with a major ground invasion of Rafah, saying civilians have died as a result of the use of certain bombs.
A senior administration official confirmed that pause to NPR earlier on Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity. The White House wouldn’t talk about the pause earlier on Monday and Tuesday, but it was later reported.
The 2,000-pound bombs are of particular concern to the U.S. administration given the impact they could have in dense urban settings, the official said.
The White house is pushing for an extended cease-fire in Gaza, so that hostages can be released, and has warned Israel against a ground operation in Rafah.