Israel seeks alternative routes to get weapons for its ongoing attacks on Gaza: Report

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) – Israel is exploring alternative routes to get weapons to sustain its ongoing offensive on the Gaza Strip, Israel's public broadcaster said on Monday, amid tensions with the US over the launch of military operation in Rafah city in southern Gaza.

The broadcaster did not specify the alternative routes Israel would pursue to obtain the required weaponry.

However, it quoted an unnamed security official as saying that tensions with the US over the Rafah operation and the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip will have an impact on Washington's readiness to continue assisting Israel at the same pace.

The US, Israel's staunchest supporter, recently differed with Tel Aviv over the danger of starting a military operation in the densely populated Palestinian city of Rafah.

In this regard, the broadcaster reported that some countries have already halted ammunition supplies to Israel as part of their ''quiet boycott'' policy.

On March 20, Canada announced a ban on arms sales to Israel.

Despite international outrage over the dire situation in the Palestinian enclave, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long stated his intention to attack Rafah, the southernmost town in Gaza and one of the last significant communities spared a ground invasion.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Palestinian territory since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas in which some 1,200 Israelis were killed.

More than 32,200 Palestinians have since been killed and over 74,500 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul