The Biden administration’s partial arms embargo on Israel is putting the lives of IDF soldiers at risk in Gaza and Lebanon and affecting the battlefield, Ynet reported on Sunday.

In addition to freezing shipments of munitions to Israel months ago, the Biden administration more recently froze a large shipment of 134 D9 bulldozers which Israel ordered and paid for, two security sources told Ynet on the condition of anonymity.

The bulldozers are mainly used for flattening buildings in the Gaza Strip, the majority of which have been booby-trapped by Hamas terrorists. Sadly, many IDF soldiers have lost their lives in explosions in the Gaza Strip.

Despite that tragic fact, the Biden administration succumbed to the pressure of pro-Hamas protesters in the US and froze deliveries.

The effect on the battlefront is already apparent in both Gaza and Lebanon. Ynet‘s inquiry revealed that many of the existing D9 bulldozers, which have been heavily used in Gaza for months, require maintenance. The launch of a second front in Lebanon exacerbated the shortage.

“At the height of the fighting in Gaza, about a year ago, battalion commanders were ‘fighting’ between them over D9 bulldozers and now they need maintenance,” IDF commanders in Gaza say.

The IDF hesitates to directly and officially link the deadly results of the raid in Jabalia in Gaza – 21 soldiers were killed in this operation alone within about a month, many of them from explosive devices – to the number of D9 bulldozers allocated for operations. These operations are usually preceded by the bulldozers entering the area ahead of the combat troops and safely clearing “contaminated” areas from explosive devices that are rigged to detonate on the soldiers. Nevertheless, it is clear that the bulldozers are not only operationally effective against tunnels and in built-up areas but also aid in saving soldiers’ lives.

In Lebanon, forces must clear thousands of acres of dense forest which Hezbollah took advantage of to hide arms depots and bunkers near Israeli communities to actualize its plan to carry out an October 7-style assault of the Galil.

The halt of the D9 shipments will also likely delay another important IDF operation in Gaza, establishing a one-kilometer-wide buffer zone between the Gaza Strip and the western Negev, which requires the leveling of hundreds of Gazan buildings and agricultural areas. Many of the buildings have already been razed but the operation is not yet complete. The Biden administration is vehemently opposed to the operation.

“The fact that there are videos of American D9 bulldozers demolishing homes in Gaza isn’t helpful but it’s a necessity,” IDF sources said. “These buildings are used by terrorists.”

Apart from using bulldozers, the IDF uses several other means, some of which are more costly, including controlled blasts with thousands of tons of explosives as well as targeted airstrikes to demolish buildings, though more rarely due to the need to preserve munitions for other fronts.

Israel is forced to use its munitions sparingly because the Biden administration is also still freezing the shipment of about 1,300 munitions purchased by Israel from Boeing [paid in shekels rather than with US aid], claiming that the IDF might harm “innocent” Gazan civilians with them.

Half of the shipment, which the Biden administration froze in May, was released and shipped to Israel, but the other half is still in US warehouses.

In addition to the stalled deliveries of the bulldozers and heavy munitions, the Biden administration refused Israel’s urgent requests for Apache attack helicopters earlier this year and later also opposed diverting some of the hundreds of new helicopters ordered from Boeing for the U.S. Army to the IDF, as is sometimes done in such cases.

“Not all U.S. defense officials are completely on our side. While the administration has significantly increased aid by billions of dollars, sending tens of thousands of munitions and various armaments to the IDF, they’re still giving us a ‘penalty’ in the form of these embargoes,” Israeli defense sources explained.

On Friday, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin threatened newly appointed Defense Minister Yisrael Katz with an arms embargo – it is unclear if he was referring to continuing the already existing embargo or to new restrictions.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)