Donald Trump has instructed the US military to release a hold imposed by former president Joe Biden on the supply of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, the president said on Saturday.
The move was widely expected.
“We released them. We released them today. And they’ll have them. They paid for them and they’ve been waiting for them for a long time. They’ve been in storage,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
Biden put the hold on the delivery of those bombs due to concern over the impact they could have on the civilian population, particularly in Gaza’s Rafah, during Israel’s war in the Palestinian territory.
When asked why he released the powerful bombs, Trump responded, “because they bought them.”
One 2,000-pound bomb can rip through thick concrete and metal, creating a wide blast radius. Reuters reported last year that the Biden administration had sent thousands of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel after the 7 October 2023, attack by Palestinian Hamas militants from Gaza but had a put a hold on one shipment.
Washington has announced assistance for Israel worth billions of dollars since the war began.
Earlier on Saturday, Trump said on the Truth Social media platform, “A lot of things that were ordered and paid for by Israel, but have not been sent by Biden, are now on their way!”
Trump and Biden have been strong supporters of US ally Israel, even as Washington has come under criticism from human rights advocates over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza from Israel’s military assault against the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Protesters have unsuccessfully demanded an arms embargo.
A ceasefire went into effect a week ago and has led to the release of some Israeli hostages held in Gaza by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Before his inauguration on 20 January, Trump had warned there would be “hell to pay” if hostages held by Hamas in Gaza were not released.
Trump said on Saturday that Jordan and Egypt should take more Palestinians from Gaza. When asked if this was a temporary or long-term suggestion, Trump said: “Could be either.”
Washington had said last year it opposed the forcible displacement of Palestinians.
“I said to him I’d love you to take on more because I’m looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now and it’s a mess, it’s a real mess. I’d like him to take people,” Trump said about a call on Saturday with Jordan’s King Abdullah.
“I’d like Egypt to take people,” Trump told reporters, adding he would speak to Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday.
“You’re talking about a million and half people, and we just clean out that whole thing,” Trump said.
The population in Gaza prior to the start of the Israel-Gaza war was about 2.3 million.
Hamas took about 250 hostages during the 7 October 2023, attack on Israel in which about 1,200 people were killed, according to Israeli tallies. It sparked the latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israel’s subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed more than 47,000 people, according to the Gaza health ministry, and led to accusations of genocide and war crimes that Israel denies. It also displaced nearly Gaza’s entire population and caused a hunger crisis.
Washington says it is helping Israel defend against Iran-backed militant groups like Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen.
