Washington | President Joe Biden paused an arms shipment to Israel last week to prevent the US-made weapons from being used in a long-threatened assault on the city of Rafah, administration officials said on Tuesday night (Wednesday AEST), a sign of the growing rift between Washington and Jerusalem over the conduct of the war.

The president withheld 1800 907kg bombs and 1700 226-pound (102.5kg) bombs that he feared could be dropped on Rafah, where more than 1 million residents in the Gaza Strip have taken refuge, the officials said. The administration is reviewing whether to hold back future transfers, including guidance kits that convert so-called dumb bombs into precision-guided munitions.