Adedokun Waliyu 
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar praised Donald Trump on Sunday for releasing a “crucial defence shipment” to Israel, after media reported the US president had authorised the sending of 2,000-pound bombs that the Biden administration had halted.
“Thank you, President Trump, for yet another display of leadership by releasing the crucial defence shipment to Israel,” Saar said on X, adding the region is safer when “Israel has what it needs to defend itself”.
On Saturday, Trump said a “lot of things” ordered by Israel were now being delivered after a report that he had released the shipment of 2,000-pound bombs.
“A lot of things that were ordered and paid for by Israel, but have not been sent by Biden, are now on their way!” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.
Former president Joe Biden’s administration last year halted shipments of 2,000-pound bombs when it appeared Israel was poised to launch a major ground operation in heavily populated areas of Gaza, particularly in Rafah, a move that Washington opposed.
Biden had warned that use of the munitions in such areas would cause “great human tragedy and damage”.
Last week, Israel and Hamas reached a tentative truce aimed at bringing a permanent end to the war in Gaza, which began with the Palestinian militant group’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
The truce was holding, with Israel and Hamas exchanging a second group of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners over the weekend.
Trump’s post did not mention any specific weapons being sent to Israel.
But writing in Axios, prominent Israeli national security journalist Barak Ravid said Trump had ordered the Defense Department to release the hold Biden had placed on the 2,000-pound bombs.
During his first presidential term, Trump repeatedly boasted that Israel “never had a better friend in the White House,” a sentiment often echoed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
But the Trump-Netanyahu relationship soured for a time after the Israeli leader called Biden to congratulate him on his 2020 election win.
Trump, who falsely claimed to have won the 2020 election, accused Netanyahu of disloyalty, according to multiple media reports at the time.
