Security

Gaza Fight Delays U.S. Ammo Shipment to Israel

Last week, we first reported — and Reuters subsequently confirmed — that U.S. military was planning to ship two consignments of ammunition to Israel. Now those shipments have been delayed because of the fighting in Gaza. On New Year’s Eve, just days after Israel began its current offensive in Gaza, U.S. Military Sealift Command issued […]

Ammo1 Last week, we first reported -- and Reuters subsequently confirmed -- that U.S. military was planning to ship two consignments of ammunition to Israel. Now those shipments have been delayed because of the fighting in Gaza.

On New Year's Eve, just days after Israel began its current offensive in Gaza, U.S. Military Sealift Command issued a solicitation for two container vessels to ship ammunition from Greece to the Israeli port of Ashdod. In a statement e-mailed to DANGER ROOM, Lt. Col. Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, said the planned shipment "was canceled due to safety concerns with the current situation in Gaza."

Part of the reason seems to be that Ashdod has become -- for the first time -- a target of Hamas rocket attacks.

During the conflict, militant rocket teams have been able to strike deeper into southern Israel than ever before. The Chicago Tribune described residents of Ashdod -- 20 miles from Gaza -- as "absorbing the new reality" of living within rocket range. "Now we are in the line of fire," a resident of Ashdod told the Tribune
correspondent at a funeral for 39-year-old mother of four killed in a rocket attack. "We wanted to believe that it wouldn't reach us."

According to Ryder, the delayed arms delivery was part of a "routine" shipment that was not connected to the current fighting in Gaza. "It was coordinated during summer 2008 and approved by the DoD [Department of Defense] in October 2008," he said. U.S. European Command is now looking for an alternate route for the delivery.

[PHOTO: bradleyarms.com]

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