Boma Achenimie 
The 47th President of the United States (US), Donald Trump has instructed the military to release a hold imposed by former President, Joe Biden on the supply of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel.
President Trump gave the directive on Saturday, January 25 in a statement to the reporters aboard Air Force One.
Sunday Telegraph recalls that the immediate past President, Biden had put a hold on the delivery of those bombs due to concern over the impact they could have on the civilian population, especially in Gaza’s Rafah, during Israel’s war in the Palestinian enclave.
The Biden administration in 2024 sent two thousand pound bombs to Israel after the October 7, 2023, attack by Palestinian Hamas militants from Gaza but had put a hold on one shipment.
This development came after Washington announced assistance for Israel worth billions of dollars since the war began.
Speaking on his new order, Trump said, “We released them. We released them today. And they’ll have them. They paid for them and they’ve been waiting for them for a long time. They’ve been in storage.”
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Earlier on Saturday, Trump said on the Truth Social platform, “A lot of things that were ordered and paid for by Israel, but have not been sent by Biden, are now on their way!”
Sunday Telegraph recalls that Trump and Biden have been strong supporters of U.S. ally Israel, even as Washington has come under criticism from human rights advocates over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza from Israel’s military assault.
Washington said it is helping Israel defend against Iran-backed militant groups like Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen.
A Gaza ceasefire went into effect a week ago and has led to the release of some Israeli hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Recall that before his inauguration on January 20, Trump had warned there would be hell to pay if hostages held by Hamas in Gaza were not released.
According to Israeli tallies, Hamas took around 250 hostages during the 2023 attack on Israel in which about 1,200 people were killed.
This triggered the latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
According to the Gaza health ministry, Israel’s subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed more than 47,000 people and led to accusations of genocide and war crimes that Israel denied.
It also displaced nearly all of Gaza’s population and caused a hunger crisis.
