Austin: US pauses shipment of payload munitions due to concerns over Rafah

The United States paused one shipment to Israel of payload munitions due to concerns over Rafah, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told the Senate Appropriations Committee in Washington on Wednesday.

“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.”

“As we have assessed the situation we paused one shipment of high payload munitions,” he said, in the first public acknowledgment that the growing tension between the two countries over Gaza was implicating US military assistance to Israel.

Israel taking steps to prevent civilian casualties

“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.”

Austin stressed that no final decision had been made about 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.

“Our commitment to Israel is ironclad,” and the US has flown billions in security assistance to Israel, and “we will continue to do what is necessary to support Israel,” he said.

Still, he said, “We are currently reviewing some near-term security assistance shipments in the context of the unfolding events in Rafah.”

Austin's testimony was interrupted by pro-Palestinian protestors accusing the US of supporting Israeli genocidal actions in Gaza.

Israel has insisted that a major military operation in Rafah can defeat Hamas, while the US has opposed it fearing that it would lead to a humanitarian disaster.

The tension between the US and Israel has increased as the IDF began a limited Rafah operation, that included taking over the Rafah Crossing on the Palestinian side and bombing Hamas targets in eastern Rafah.

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters that the US had not approved Israel's seizure of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

US President Joe Biden is under domestic pressure to halt arms shipments to Israel. The State Department is reviewing IDF compliance with the National Security Memorandum, known as NSM-20, that mandates that weapons must not be used to violate US or international law.

The State Department had until May 8, to assure Congress that Israel complied with both the American and International regulations, a step that is necessary so arms shipments to Israel can continue.

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that the report would be briefly delayed, but would be submitted in the coming days.

Regardless of the memorandum, Miller said that the US was reviewing other shipments in addition to the one that had been paused.

“We have serious concerns” about Rafah, he said. 

“We do not believe that Israel has presented a credible military plan that would account” for protecting and evacuating civilians.

There are over 1.3  million Palestinians in Rafah, many of whom fled there in the early stages of the war. 

“When you have more than one million people in such a tight area, all our concerns are magnified,” he said. In addition, he said, Rafah is the center for the distribution of humanitarian assistance, and its not possible to replace it.

At the Senate hearing on Wednesday Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) pushed back at Austin, asking if he would have supported the World War II decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 

“Israel has been hit in the last few weeks by Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas dedicated to their destruction. 

“And you're telling me you're going to tell them how to fight the war and what they can and can't use when everybody around them wants to kill all the Jews,” Graham said his voice rising with the emotion of the moment.

“You're telling me that if we withhold weapons in this fight, the existential fight for the life of the Jewish state it won't send the wrong signal?” he asked.

“If we withhold weapons necessary to destroy the enemies of the state of Israel at a time of great peril we will pay a price. This is obscene. It is absurd. Give them aid to fight the war they can't afford to lose,” he exclaimed.

Austin, speaking later in the hearing, said it was a moral and strategic imperative to protect civilians and it was possible to do that, while still destroying Hamas.

“We should do everything possible to protect civilians and provide for their welfare,” he said.

Senator John Hoeven (R-ND) that the decision to pause a shipment of precision bombs that reduced the faulty count earmarked for Gaza, ran counter to the goal of protecting Palestinians while defeating Hamas.

“Those precision weapons will help them fully defeat Hamas with less impact on the civilian population in Gaza. So why would we not go ahead and get them those weapons just as fast as we can?” he asked.

“Clearly Congress intended to get Israel that assistance [of precision weapons]. And so we're watching very closely that you get that to them as expeditiously as possible so they can fully defeat Hamas,” Hoeven stated.

The Prime Minister's Office, the Defense Ministry, and the IDF have been silent on the matter.

Reuters contributed to this report.