US bulldozers shipment withheld by Biden administration arrives in Israel

ISTANBUL

Israel said Wednesday that a US shipment of D9 bulldozers and other military equipment held up by the Joe Biden administration arrived in the country.

A Defense Ministry statement said the Caterpillar D9 bulldozers and additional equipment for ground forces were unloaded at Haifa Port in northern Israel.

"The shipment of D9 bulldozers is part of a broad-scale arming and military equipment effort worth billions of shekels, which the US government released and the Defense Ministry procured and transported to Israel," Defense Ministry Director General Amir Baram said.

The Biden administration withheld the shipment in November 2024 due to Israel’s use of bulldozers in home demolitions in the Gaza Strip.

“Over 100,000 tons of military equipment have arrived in Israel, carried in 870 flights and 144 ships” since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza in October 2023, the ministry said, calling the shipments the largest in the country’s history.

The Israeli army has killed nearly 57,700 Palestinians, most of them women and children, in Gaza since October 2023. The relentless bombardment has destroyed the enclave and led to food shortages and a spread of disease.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.