The Biden administration is cutting down on weapons supply to Israel as the war against the terror group Hamas enters a decisive phase.
To stop Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from ordering an operation against the last-standing Hamas stronghold of Rafah, the White House is “considering leaving Israel short of the armaments it needs to fight Hamas,” columnist Benny Avni revealed exclusively in The New York Sun on Monday.
The Israeli military urgently needs more ammunition as the Gaza ground offensive enters its fifth month. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is “running out of 155 mm artillery shells and 120 mm tank shells, as well as sensitive guidance equipment,” the news website reported, citing Israeli sources.
With Israeli troops engaged in pitched battles against well-armed and fortified terrorist forces across Gaza, the military “noted a recent reduction of American arms supplies,” the article added.
Prime Minister Netanyahu on Saturday approved a military and humanitarian plan for capturing the Hamas stronghold, the Israeli media revealed.
The NY Sun reported Monday:
President Biden, keeping Prime Minister Netanyahu at arm’s length, is reportedly considering leaving Israel short of the armaments it needs to fight Hamas. Such a politically based move risks harming America’s global interests.By Sunday, Israel must tell America that it is complying with international restrictions on arms supplies, including by facilitating ample humanitarian assistance to Gaza, the national security adviser, Jacob Sullivan, told reporters Monday, adding that it is yet to do so.Meanwhile, a Jerusalem official noted a recent reduction of American arms supplies to Israel, ABC news reports. The Israel Defense Force is running out of 155 mm artillery shells and 120 mm tank shells, as well as sensitive guidance equipment, the official said. (…)In a deep analysis of the Gaza war, the chairman of urban warfare studies at West Point, John Spencer, concluded that Israel “has painstakingly followed the laws of armed conflict and implemented many steps to prevent civilian casualties, despite enormous challenges.” Denying arms to Israel, then, would be a “political decision” that is “not backed by what has actually happened in Israel and Gaza,” Mr. Spencer tells the Sun.It could also backfire if the IDF runs out of precision bombs, Mr. Roggio adds. As in Iraq during the war there, he says, once supply of such arms dwindles, a military quickly moves to using less discriminating munitions, resulting in higher civilian casualty rates.
The revelation comes as President Joe Biden ‘warned’ Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu not to undertake the planned large-scale military operation in Rafah aimed at eliminating Hamas leadership and freeing the remaining hostages.
In a phone conversation that took place on Monday, Biden “warned” the Israeli prime minister “not to act without approval from Washington in a stern phone call on Monday,” the Jerusalem Post reported. “Israel lacks a viable military strategy to eliminate Hamas in Rafah,” the U.S. president said, according to the newspaper.
The Qatari-funded Al Jazeera called it the “strongest public warning yet to Israel against invading” the terrorist bastion.
The NBC News reported the phone call:
During a critical phone call Monday, President Joe Biden warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against Israel’s carrying out a planned military operation in Rafah, the White House said.”Our position is that Hamas should not be allowed a safe haven in Rafah or anywhere else, but a major ground operation there would be a mistake,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan said at the White House briefing where he outlined the leaders’ conversation.”It would lead to more innocent civilian deaths, worsen the already dire humanitarian crisis, deepen the anarchy in Gaza and further isolate Israel internationally,” Sullivan added.
Defying Biden, Netanyahu vowed to go ahead with the planned military operation against the terrorists in Rafah, the Israeli TV channel i23NEWS reported Tuesday:
Prime Minister Netanyahu reportedly told a closed meeting of the Foreign Affairs Knesset committee that “The Americans asked us not to carry out the operation in Rafah, but we don’t have any other choice. We need to have control over the Philadelphi Corridor [Hamas’s main weapons supply route on the Egyptian border].”
The European Union joined the Biden White House in urging Israel to halt operations against Hamas. On Tuesday, all 27 heads of EU member states called for a “permanent ceasefire” in Gaza while Hamas held some hundred remaining Israeli hostages, including elderly, women, and children.
The Jerusalem Post reported:
The 27 heads of state of the European Union are expected to call on Thursday for an immediate humanitarian pause in the fighting in Gaza, leading to a permanent ceasefire, Kan News reported on Tuesday, citing a German source.
Despite mounting U.S. and European pressure, the IDF continued counter-terrorism operations across Gaza — eliminating Hamas’s leadership and destroying weapons depots.
“Maglan and Egoz Unit soldiers operated in the center of the ‘Hamad’ area and raided dozens of terror targets located inside multi-story buildings,” the IDF disclosed in a press release on Tuesday. “During the activity that lasted over a week, the unit’s soldiers raided a terrorist structure used by the Deputy Battalion Commander of the Khan Yunis Brigade, Ahmed Klab, and located large quantities of weapons.”
After eliminating Hamas’ Internal Security chief, Faiq Mabhouh, in his hideout inside Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital on Monday, the IDF continued operations against jihadists holed up in the terrorist-infested medical facility. The IDF took out more than 50 terrorists in and around the ‘hospital,’ which Hamas uses as a command center.
The Israeli broadcaster Arutz Sheva reported Tuesday:
The IDF and ISA, led by the 162nd Division, the 401st Brigade, and Shayetet 13 special forces are continuing precise operations in the Shifa Hospital to thwart terrorism.The troops eliminated terrorists in close-quarters combat and located weapons in the area while avoiding harm to civilians, medical staff, and medical equipment. Thus far, the troops killed over 50 terrorists and apprehended approximately 180 suspects.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY