US Pulls Shipment of Ammunition Bound for Israel

Following months of thinly—and not-so-thinly—veiled threats to crimp the pipeline of arms Israel receives from the United States if Jerusalem does not fight a “kinder and gentler war” against the Iranian terror proxy Hamas, Washington has reportedly canceled a shipment of ammunition before it could be delivered. The revelation was first reported by Axios. Since the Hamas attack on October 7 that claimed 1,200 lives, relations between the US and Israel have shown increasing strain as international pressure over the humanitarian situation that Gaza has been left with since the Israeli counterattack began. Despite written assurances Israel has provided guaranteeing its adherence to standards under international law regarding how a war needs to be fought, Israel’s enemies have kept the pressure on the Jewish state. At present, Israel stands poised to launch a ground invasion of the southern city of Rafah, a move of which the Biden Administration does not approve absent a detailed plan that would protect Gaza’s citizens to the degree demanded by the Americans. Withholding of arms and ammunition is merely one action the US is pondering, but the token withholding of ammunition nevertheless sends a reverberating message to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.