Israel fears a cutoff in US military aid supplies amid a rift in relations with Washington over Tel Aviv's planned ground operation in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. This was reported by the Israeli state radio station Kan, citing sources in the country's security services.

According to the source, military assistance now continues to arrive from the United States on special flights, but this situation may change.

“The biggest fear (at the moment -

RT

) is that the tension associated with the entry (of Israeli troops -

RT

) into Rafah will affect the Americans’ willingness to help Israel in the security sector,” said an Israeli security official.

Kan’s interlocutor noted that several Western countries have already declared a “quiet boycott” against Israel and are refusing further arms supplies. According to Kan, Italy refused to sell weapons for Israeli ships, and Canada refused to sell chips and electronic components. In Europe, there are no necessary reserves, since everyone is trying to purchase the most modern weapons for themselves, the interlocutor of the Israeli radio station emphasized.

Kan reports that Tel Aviv is now looking for ways to diversify its arms purchases. 

Earlier, the American state radio station NPR reported that the United States told Israel about reputational damage due to the ongoing IDF military operation in Gaza. According to NPR, Assistant Secretary of State Bill Russo told the Israeli side in a telephone conversation that Tel Aviv's actions towards the Palestinians create a "big trust problem" for both Israel and the United States around the world.

A confidential US State Department memo on Russo's conversation, the contents of which is also cited by NPR, states that Washington is concerned that Tel Aviv is making a serious strategic mistake.

“The Israelis seem to have lost sight of the fact that their reputation faces great damage, perhaps for generations to come, not only in the region but also beyond,” the department said in a note.

Major sponsor

Let us remember that the United States remains Israel's main military sponsor. According to Axios, from 1950 to 2020, more than 80% of Israeli arms imports came from the United States.

In addition, Israel is the largest recipient of foreign military funding of all Washington's "client states", which in recent years has accounted for about 15% of Tel Aviv's defense budget.

Under the agreement reached under the administration of US President Barack Obama, Israel receives about $3.8 billion annually from Washington for defense needs.

  • Israeli military in Gaza

  • globallookpress.com

  • © Gil Cohen Magen/Xinhua

Following the start of a new phase in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Biden administration has asked Congress to allocate an additional $14 billion for Israel's defense needs. Of this, $5.2 billion was intended to replenish the ammunition load of missiles for long- and short-range missile defense systems, including the Israeli Iron Dome, The Times of Israel newspaper reports.

However, this package has not yet been approved, as Republicans in the House of Representatives opposed tying aid to Israel to the allocation of $60 billion to support Ukraine, and also demanded that the White House tighten immigration laws.

But the Biden administration continues to supply Tel Aviv through an emergency arms sale mechanism that requires only the approval of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. In December 2023, the total amount of the deal was $147.5 million. Most of this package is fuses, charges and primers necessary for the production of 155-mm shells for the Israeli army.

Road to Rafah 

Let us remind you that a new escalation of the conflict has been ongoing since October 7, 2023. Then militants of the radical Hamas movement invaded the southern regions of Israel, attacked a number of military installations and civilian settlements, took more than 240 hostages, and also carried out massive shelling of the territory of the Jewish state.

Israeli authorities under the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have vowed to remove Hamas from power in the Palestinian enclave of the Gaza Strip and destroy the movement.

After this, the IDF began intensive bombing of the Gaza Strip, and later a ground military operation. Due to the dense buildings and high population density in the enclave, the actions of the Israeli army were accompanied by a large number of casualties among the civilian population of Gaza.

At the same time, Israel carried out attacks on certain areas of Lebanon and Syria, and also carried out operations in the West Bank.

In December 2023, Israeli forces expanded their military operation to the south of the Gaza Strip, where Palestinian civilians had previously been evacuated at the direction of Tel Aviv.

Today, one of the main areas of IDF operations is the city of Rafah on the border with Egypt. According to various sources, there may be up to 1.5 million people there. Israeli authorities in early February announced plans to send the army into the city to destroy the Hamas battalions located there.

On February 15, Netanyahu announced on his social network page that fighting in the Gaza Strip would continue until complete victory, including in Rafah.

A number of countries, various international organizations and associations, including the UN and the EU, are against the operation in the city. They believe that the assault on Rafah by Israeli forces will be accompanied by a large number of casualties among Palestinian civilians, as has already happened in Gaza itself.

  • Benjamin Netanyahu

  • AP

  • © Avi Ohayon/GPO

In turn, Egypt, on whose border Rafah is located, threatened to suspend the peace agreement with Israel if the IDF entered the city. Egyptian authorities fear that the assault on the city will lead to an uncontrollable influx of refugees.

Israel ignores criticism from the international community and continues to plan the assault on Rafah. On March 15, The Times of Israel reported that Netanyahu had agreed to an IDF plan for a ground operation in the city.

In turn, the head of the Israeli Ministry of Defense Yoav Galant said on March 20 that 2024 will be for Israel not only a year of war, but also a year of victory. He wrote about this on his page on the social network X. Galant added that in order to ensure a quantitative and qualitative advantage, Israel needs to mobilize the people. In his opinion, this is the only way the country can win the war with Hamas.

On the same day, Netanyahu told members of the Israeli parliament that he saw no alternative to a ground invasion of Rafah, despite the objections of the US administration.

"From exacerbation to exacerbation"

Israel's concerns

regarding the cessation of military support and arms supplies from the United States do not have compelling reasons, says military expert Ivan Konovalov.

“The United States will not stop supplying Israel with weapons under any circumstances. The Israel lobby in the US is very strong, and Tel Aviv is the main US ally in the region. In fact, Israel dictates terms to Washington, and not vice versa,” the RT interlocutor emphasized.

At the same time, military assistance to Israel may be somewhat reduced or redirected through other states that are Washington’s clients on the principle of “circular exchange,” for example through South Korea, where the United States also stores a lot of weapons, Konovalov added.

“This way, the White House will be able to say that it has cut military aid to Israel. But nothing more. So far, the United States has not stopped supplying the Israelis. There are elections in the States this year, and who would want to lose a strong Israeli lobby in the run-up to them?” - the analyst noted.

  • Israeli forces in Gaza

  • AP

  • © Ariel Schalit

However, some experts believe that Washington may still take some kind of demonstrative step.

“Washington is trying to force Israel to abandon the assault on Rafah, which the Americans strongly disapprove of, since the image blow will be dealt to them as well. But Tel Aviv refuses to listen to the Americans and will look for alternative ways and possibilities to provide this military operation with weapons, equipment and ammunition. Netanyahu made it clear that he is not going to listen to US recommendations and is preparing to clear the city, despite the fact that there are now more than 1 million people there, driven to despair by hunger, thirst and bombing,” explained the head of the department of political analysis and bombing in a conversation with RT. socio-psychological processes of the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics Andrey Koshkin.

Obviously, the admonitions of the United States, other Western countries and the UN do not work on Tel Aviv, but there are no prerequisites for them to introduce more significant measures such as sanctions against Israel, the expert believes.

“The Israelis will launch this operation, but this will not solve the problem with Hamas, just as the actual destruction of Gaza did not solve it. This will be another purge with an inhuman number of Palestinian casualties. The United States is broadcasting its displeasure with this in every possible way, wagging its finger through the media and statements of individual officials, but does not take proper measures to prevent these atrocities,” Koshkin said.

An expert on the Middle East, Moscow State University professor Alexander Vavilov, in a conversation with RT, also noted that Western countries, which at first expressed solidarity with the Jewish state, after the destruction of Gaza, no longer want to be considered involved in military actions against the Palestinians.

“The overwhelming majority of countries are against the fact that Israel carried out a real massacre of civilians. This is not an exaggeration. Fears that this will continue in Rafah are well founded. But Tel Aviv will go to the end, since it is important for Netanyahu to win a complete victory over Hamas. Therefore, we will see new bloody attacks and clashes,” the political scientist emphasized.

However, the military operation in the Gaza Strip will not end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, states Alexander Vavilov.

“This conflict will continue as it has for decades: from escalation to escalation. In fact, the Arab-Israeli conflict is the longest in history and continues from the 20th century to the present. Why? Because the Israelis refuse to fulfill the main condition for its completion, which was developed by the international community - the creation of the state of Palestine. The Israelis do not want this and continue to seize new lands during their military operation. Therefore, many more unpleasant stories await us in this conflict,” concluded RT’s interlocutor.