The US pauses sending certain weaponry to Israel while fighting rages near Rafah

On Wednesday, after hearing from a U.S. official that Washington had stopped a shipment of heavy bombs that Israel could use in a full-scale attack, Hamas declared that it was engaged in combat with Israeli troops outside the heavily populated southern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip.

Resuming talks in Cairo on Wednesday, the United States, which is attempting to prevent an Israeli invasion of Rafah, stated that it thinks a revised proposal from Hamas for a ceasefire may result in a breakthrough in the impasse in negotiations.

Although the UN and Western countries have warned that a full-scale attack on the city would be a humanitarian disaster, Israel has threatened to launch a massive assault on Rafah in an attempt to drive out thousands of Hamas fighters it claims are holed up there.

In the east of Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought safety from fighting farther north in the enclave, Hamas reported that its members were engaged in action with Israeli soldiers. Locals reported that fighting remained confined to the periphery.

According to a top U.S. official, President Joe Biden’s administration stopped sending weaponry to Israel last week, ostensibly in reaction to the anticipated Rafah offensive. Both the Pentagon and the White House declined to comment.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the official stated that Washington had stopped a supply of 1,800 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs after carefully reviewing the delivery of weaponry that might be used in Rafah.

This would be the first postponement of this kind since the Biden administration gave Israel its “ironclad” backing following the attack by Hamas on October 7. Washington serves as Israel’s primary arms supplier and closest ally.

A senior Israeli official requested anonymity when denying the report’s veracity: “If we have to fight with our fingernails, then we’ll do what we have to do,” stated a source. According to a military spokesman, issues are settled privately.

On Tuesday, Israeli forces captured Rafah, the primary border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, closing off a crucial supply line.

Officials and locals reported that on Tuesday, an Israeli tank fire struck and caught fire at Rafah’s city council building.

“The sounds of innocent lives lost, families shattered, and houses reduced to rubble resound through the city’s streets. “We are on the verge of an unparalleled humanitarian crisis,” stated Ahmed Al-Sofi, the mayor of Rafah, in a plea to the global community to step in.

The Israeli military announced on Wednesday that it had discovered Hamas infrastructure at a number of eastern Rafah areas and that its forces were carrying out airstrikes throughout the Gaza Strip in addition to focused raids on the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing.

It has instructed citizens to travel to a “extended humanitarian zone” located approximately 20 kilometers (12 miles) away in al-Mawasi.

In separate announcements, armed factions of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Fatah said that fighting was still going on in the central Gaza Strip, while northern Gaza residents reported intensive Israeli tank bombardment targeting the eastern parts of Gaza City and its surrounding districts.