Washington, June 29 (RHC)-- The United States is to send Israel 500-pound bombs that were part of a weapons shipment "suspended" over the Israeli invasion of Gaza’s Rafah, a report says. 

The news Axios website on Thursday cited one U.S. and one Israeli official as saying that the release of about 1,700 500-pound bombs was one of the issues discussed during this week’s meeting between Israel's minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant and senior White House officials.

"During the meetings in Washington, we were told that the 500-pound bombs will be released after the Rafah operation is over in two weeks," an Israeli official said.  The shipment, which also includes the 2,000-pound bombs, was put on hold in May amid concerns about the invasion of the city of Rafah, where more than half of Gaza's 2.4 million population have sought shelter from Israeli strikes elsewhere in Gaza.

According to the report, the U.S. administration is still reviewing the other part of the shipment which includes 1,800 2,000-pound bombs.

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime's decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.

Since then, the United States has supplied the Tel Aviv regime with more than 10,000 tons of military equipment and used its veto power against all United Nations Security Council resolutions that called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

The Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 37,765 Palestinians and injured over 86,429 since the start of the offensive.  Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under rubble.