Trump releases thousands of one-ton bomb shipments frozen by Biden to Israel, official says
The delivery was frozen by the Biden administration in May due to the Israeli operation in Rafah.
By AMICHAI STEINUpdated: JANUARY 26, 2025 01:52 Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stands with U.S. President Donald Trump after signing the Abraham Accords, normalizing relations between Israel and some of its Middle East neighbors, in a strategic realignment of Middle Eastern countries against Iran, 2020(photo credit: REUTERS/TOM BRENNER/FILE PHOTO)
The White House released 1,800 one-ton bomb shipments previously frozen by former US president Joe Biden, an Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post on Saturday.
The delivery was frozen back in May of last year due to the Israeli operation in Rafah.
Later on Saturday, US President Donald Trump wrote that "a lot of things" were on their way to Israel in a post on the social media platform Truth Social.
"A lot of things that were ordered and paid for by Israel but have not been sent by Biden are now on their way!" the post said.
In May, Biden warned Israel that he'd halt US weapons shipments earmarked for Gaza if the IDF embarked on a major military operation against Hamas in Rafah.
Joe Biden (credit: REUTERS)
Freezing arms transfer to Israel
"I've made it clear that if they [Israel] go into Rafah...I'm not supplying the weapons that have historically been used to deal with Rafah," Biden told CNN while campaigning in Wisconsin for reelection in November.
Earlier on Saturday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told the Senate Appropriations Committee the US had already paused one shipment to Israel of payload munitions due to concerns over Rafah.
“We’ve held up one shipment,” Biden explained to CNN.
“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they [Israel] go after population centers” in Gaza, Biden stressed to CNN.
