File picture of U.S. President Donald Trump with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the West Wing of the White House
| Photo Credit: AP

President Donald Trump gestures as he boards Air Force One. File.
| Photo Credit: AP

President Donald Trump has ended his predecessor’s hold on sending 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, lifting a pressure point that had been meant to reduce civilian casualties during the U.S. ally’s war with Hamas in Gaza that is now halted by a tenuous ceasefire.

In a post on his Truth Social network Saturday, Trump said, “A lot of things that were ordered and paid for by Israel, but have not been sent by Biden, are now on their way!” A Trump administration official confirmed that he was referring to the heavy bombs. The official was not authorized to give that detail publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

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Then-President Joe Biden halted the delivery of the large bombs in May as part of an effort to keep Israel from launching an all-out assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah. A month later, Israel did take control of the city, but after the vast majority of the 1 million civilians that had been living or sheltering in Rafah had fled.

“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” Biden told CNN in May when he held up the weapons. “I made it clear that if they go into Rafah … I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities, that deal with that problem.”

The Biden pause had also held up 1,700 500-pound bombs that had been packaged in the same shipment to Israel, but weeks later those bombs were delivered.

Trump’s action, five days into his term, comes as he has celebrated the first phase of a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel that has paused the fighting and seen the release of some hostages held by Hamas in Gaza in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Negotiations have yet to begin in earnest on the more difficult second phase of the deal that would eventually see the release of all hostages held by Hamas and an enduring halt to the fighting.

The Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened to resume its war against Hamas — which launched a massive assault against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 — if the remaining hostages are not released.

File picture of Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich
| Photo Credit: Reuters

 Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Monday (November 11, 2024) announced that 2025 would be the year when Israel will annex the occupied West Bank. The declaration came on a day when Saudi capital Riyadh under the leadership of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman hosted the leaders of various Arab and Muslim countries who condemned the Israeli actions in Lebanon and Gaza Strip.

Mr. Smotrich’s announcement is not yet supported by a resolution of the Israeli government but gives a hint of the thinking in the coalition government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu where Mr. Smotrich plays a supervisory role for the controversial expansion of settlements in occupied Palestinian areas.

On Monday, in a parliamentary meeting of his Religious Zionist Party which is a partner of PM Netanyahu’s government, Mr. Smotrich asked the Israeli government “to begin the professional and comprehensive staff work to prepare the necessary infrastructure,” to annex the West Bank which Israelis call as Judea and Samaria.

The remarks added to the backdrop in which Saudi Arabia held the extraordinary summit of the Arab and Islamic leaders in Riyadh. Addressing the meeting Prince Mohammed Bin Salman demanded an “immediate ceasefire” in the war in Gaza and called for an end to “massacres committed against the Palestinians and the Lebanese people.” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called for suspension of Israel from the UN and said Israel is committing “mass genocide”.

Palestinian Presidential spokesperson, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, said the remarks made by Bezalel Smotrich, about imposing Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank confirm the Israeli government’s “intention” to go ahead with taking control of the West Bank by 2025.

The summit was attended by Egypt’s President El Sisi, Syria’s President Bashar Al Assad, Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Pakistani PM Shehbaz Sharif among others. Iran which is in a military rivalry with Israel did not send President Pezeshkian who cited “executive matters” while skipping the summit in Riyadh. The United Arab Emirates was represented at the summit by Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister of the UAE who led a delegation to Riyadh.

The UAE which has diplomatic ties with Israel is in a unique position as it was the third Arab country — after Egypt and Jordan — to establish diplomatic relations with Israel during the first tenure of President Donald Trump in 2020. The relation has been considerably downplayed since Israel launched the war in Gaza but despite that the Emirates is one of the few places in the region where Israeli media including its pro-war channels are freely allowed to be aired providing the viewers with a window to the plans that the Israeli government is making for the West Bank, Gaza and the Lebanese territories. 

It is understood that any action on West Bank will have further regional implications as the region, which is the base of the Palestinian Authority, includes embassies and representations from many countries – including India – that recognise the statehood of Palestine forcing a new political and diplomatic reality. But the remarks of Mr. Smotrich have contributed to the regional discussion as the transition in Washington D.C. is being keenly watched here.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, said that annexation of West Bank was discussed last time during the first Presidency of President Trump. “The last time we discussed this issue was in the first term of President Trump,” he said. “And so let’s say that if it will be relevant, it will be discussed again also with our friends in Washington,” he was quoted by Reuters.