A partial arms embargo has been imposed by the US on Israel, specifically a huge shipment of no less than 134 D9 bulldozers.
Ynet has learned that the bulldozers are stuck in Caterpillar factories in the US. Israel ordered and paid for them and are waiting for an export permit from the State Department in Washington.
The use of these bulldozers, mainly for flattening buildings in the Gaza Strip, led to great internal criticism in the United States, protest demonstrations, and enormous pressure on the Biden administration, which capitulated and has been freezing the process for several months.
The results on the ground are already evident: Ynet's examination shows that dozens of existing D9 bulldozers, which operated more intensely in the IDF's maneuvers in the Gaza Strip for many months between November last year and the beginning and middle of the year, require maintenance.
In addition, for about a month now, the IDF has had a new ground combat zone in southern Lebanon, where these bulldozers are also needed. The forces are required to expose thousands of dunams of thick thickets that Hezbollah uses to hide combat bunkers and weapons depots under their protection, within running distance of Israeli communities in order to invade the Galilee.
It can be assumed that the freeze on bulldozer deliveries is delaying another significant move by the Southern Command, which has not yet been completed: the establishment of a buffer zone between the Gaza Strip and the western Negev, one kilometer wide, on the Gaza side of the border, and in a manner that includes flattening hundreds of Palestinian buildings and agricultural areas.