How America’s pause on the delivery of 2,000-pound bombs will hurt Israel

In a significant development amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza, the United States has decided to halt the delivery of powerful 2,000-pound bombs to Israel. This decision comes as Israel prepares to launch an assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, to what it claims is to root out the final elements of Hamas. Israel has long relied on these weapons from its strongest ally in the West.

With more than one million refugees sheltering in Rafah, US officials are concerned the bombs could inflict massive casualties. Human rights groups have long said that Israel’s use of powerful bombs has caused the indiscriminate killings of civilians.

Here’s everything we know about the US’ restrictions on bomb shipments to Israel .
‘The decision wasn’t final’

US defence secretary Lloyd Austin told a Senate panel Wednesday that smaller, more precise weapons are needed for a densely populated area like Rafah.

Still, he made clear the decision wasn’t final.

“We’re going to continue to do what’s necessary to ensure that Israel has the means to defend itself,” Austin said. “But that said, we are currently reviewing some near-term security assistance shipments in the context of unfolding events in Rafah.”

Israel said it was disappointed with the decision, suggesting it was done due to political pressure on US president Joe Biden. Some defence experts said the move was largely symbolic but could signal more trouble ahead in the relationship between the US and Israel.

“It’s some kind of diplomatic message to (Israeli prime minister Benjamin) Netanyahu that he needs to take into consideration American interests more than he has over the last few months,” said Itamar Yaar, former deputy head of Israel’s National Security Council. “At least for now it will not impact Israeli capability but it’s some kind of a signal, a ‘be careful.’”

The 2,000-pound bomb

While the US has dropped 2,000-pound bombs off its aircraft since World War II, current versions date back to the Vietnam War. It’s an air-dropped munition, one that can carry a higher payload because it doesn’t have an engine. It’s one of the larger munitions in the US inventory, said Ryan Brobst, a senior research analyst at the Foundation for the Defence of Democracies’ Centre on Military and Political Power.

The 2,000-pound bomb has multiple variants — some are designed to penetrate deep, underground targets while others detonate above ground and cause widespread damage. Depending on the variant, and whether the munition is dropped in an open or urban area, its blast radius can be as far as a quarter mile away or a much more confined area.

The bombs are “dumb” or unguided bombs but can be turned into more precise weapons with the addition of Joint Direct Attack Munition kits, or JDAM kits which add a tail fin and navigation.

That added kit enables troops to guide the munition to a target, rather than simply dropping it from a fighter jet onto the ground. The kits make the weapons more precise, but in a densely populated urban environment, a JDAM kit is not going to make much of a difference — a precise hit will still have the reach to kill unintended bystanders.

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US fighter jets, bombers and drones can all fire the JDAMs, and the US began providing the munitions to Ukraine in 2022, a slightly modified version that could be launched from Ukrainian aircraft. After the 7 October attack on Israel by Hamas, the US provided 2,000-pound munitions to Israel to assist in its defence.

Unlike other types of munitions in the US inventory, the military has an ample supply of them, so providing them doesn’t involve the same type of stockpile pressures the US has with other more limited munitions like the 155mm artillery rounds.

The US pause could hurt Israel 

The Israeli military has said little about what kinds of bombs and artillery it is using in Gaza. But from blast fragments found on-site and analyses of strike footage, experts are confident that the vast majority of bombs dropped on the besieged enclave are US-made. They say the 2,000-pound bombs have killed hundreds in densely populated areas.

Brobst said the 2,000-pound bombs are still needed to assist Israel in striking Hamas’ tunnel network in Rafah.

Wes Bryant, a weapons expert and retired American air force master sergeant who served on an independent task force for the state and defence departments on Israel’s use of weapons in Gaza, said that the pause would be a “huge hit” to the Israeli arsenal.

The 2,000- and 500-pound bombs are some of the main munitions used by Israel in its seven-month war campaign, Bryant said.

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“They have been burning right through them,” said Bryant. He said the munitions are made by major American weapons manufacturers like Raytheon, Northrop, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and General Atomics.

The dangers for Rafah

A report compiled by the independent task force for the US state and defence departments last month said US sources informed one of its members that 300,000 munitions had been dropped on or fired in Gaza during the first six months of the war.

It cited “credible” media investigations that in the first month of the Israeli campaign alone, there were at least 500 craters in Gaza consistent with the use of 2,000-pound bombs.

The potential use of 2,000-pound bombs in Rafah, where more than one million people have sheltered because they have nowhere else to go, has drawn significant administration concern.

At the hearing, Austin questioned whether the 2,000-pound bomb was the right tool for the Rafah operation.

“It’s about having the right kinds of weapons for the task at hand. And a small diameter bomb, which is a precision weapon, that’s very useful in a dense, built-up environment,” said Austin, “but maybe not so much a 2,000-pound bomb that could create a lot of collateral damage.” He said the US wants to see Israel do “more precise” operations.

Israel reacted strongly to the US decision. Its UN ambassador Gilad Erdan called the pause “a very disappointing decision, even frustrating,” in an interview with Israeli Channel 12 TV news. He suggested that the move stemmed from political pressure on Biden from Congress, campus protests and the upcoming election.

With inputs from AP