US puts weapons shipment to Israel on hold, signaling concerns over Rafah assault

The pause comes as the Biden administration pushes for Israel and Hamas to compromise and reach a cease-fire deal that would head off a large-scale assault on the city in southern Gaza, where more than a million Palestinians are sheltering in dire conditions.

The decision to pause the shipment was made last week, the official said. They added that no final decision had been made on whether to proceed with the delivery at a later date, but that the State Department is separately considering whether to approve future weapons transfers, including Joint Direct Attack Munition kits, which place precision guidance systems onto bombs.

“It’s positive that they’re still meeting, but it’s too soon to be optimistic,” the official said."We need them to close their differences, but the differences are minor.", came to light as the Biden administration appeared set to miss a Wednesday deadline to submit a highly-anticipated report to Congress on whether Israel is using U.S. weapons in accordance with international law.

The report is mandated under a National Security Memo signed by Biden in February which requires the Secretary of State or the Secretary of Defense to assess whether recipients of U.S. military assistance involved in active combat are using those weapons in line with international law. The Israeli military's ground and air operation in eastern Rafah came after it warned roughly 100,000 people to evacuate the area, once deemed a safe zone for Palestinians fleeing Israel's assault elsewhere in the enclave.

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