In response to reports that the US president had lifted a block on the delivery of 2,000-pound bombs, Donald Trump declared on Saturday that a “lot of things” that Israel had ordered were now being delivered.
“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 said in a post on his Truth Social platform.
Former president Joe Biden’s administration last year halted shipments of 2,000-pound bombs when it appeared Israel was poised to launch a major ground operation in heavily populated areas of Gaza, a move that Washington opposed.
Biden had warned that use of the munitions in such areas would cause “great human tragedy and damage.”
A tentative truce between Israel and Hamas was negotiated just days before Biden departed the White House with the goal of permanently ending the war in Gaza, which started when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.
With Israel and Hamas trading a second round of Israeli captives for Palestinian inmates over the weekend, the truce was still in place.
There was no mention of any particular weapons being transferred to Israel in Trump’s post.
However, well-known Israeli national security reporter Barak Ravid claimed in an article for Axios that Trump had directed the Defense Department to remove the hold Biden had put on the 2,000-pound bombs.
During his first presidential term, Trump repeatedly boasted that Israel “never had a better friend in the White House,” a sentiment often echoed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
But the Trump-Netanyahu relationship soured for a time after the Israeli leader called Biden to congratulate him on his 2020 election win.
Trump, who falsely claimed to have won the 2020 election, accused Netanyahu of disloyalty, according to multiple media reports at the time.
