A top US source said on Wednesday that US President Joe Biden’s top aides told the visiting head of the Israeli defense force this week that Washington is stopping the shipment of heavy bombs to Israel while the situation is looked into.
The official told reporters about the meeting between National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. He said that the allies are still talking about the single shipment of powerful weapons, which Biden put on hold in May because he was worried that they could kill more Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
The official said that other US weapons will continue to flow to Israel as it fights Hamas militants in Gaza and Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon on its northern border. Rising tensions in these areas have caused fears of a wider war in the region.
During his visit, Gallant warned that Israel could “take Lebanon back to the Stone Age” in a war with Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran. However, he also made it clear that his government wants the diplomatic solution that the US is working on.
As Gallant wrapped up his trip on Wednesday, he said that there had been big steps forward in the process of getting US weapons to Israel, stating that “obstacles were removed and bottlenecks were addressed.”
Gallant and US officials tried to calm things down after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Washington was keeping weapons. This caused Biden’s staff to be disappointed and confused by Netanyahu’s comments.
In May, the US stopped sending 2,000-pound and 500-pound bombs to Gaza because they were worried about how they would affect places with a lot of people during the war that started with Hamas’ deadly cross-border raid on October 7. Even so, Israel is still going to get other US weapons worth billions of dollars.
“Ultimately, we are in talks to find a solution,” the senior US source said on the condition of anonymity. “But I think the president has expressed his concerns about that one shipment, and those are very valid concerns.”
The source said that there have been “bottlenecks” in some weapons deliveries to Israel, but they said that was because of a “complicated bureaucratic system” for approving military aid and not because of a plan to slow down.
Israel-Lebanon Line
Gallant also said that he talked to US officials about the need to fix the “security situation in the north.” He made it clear that Israel will not accept Hezbollah “military formations” on the border with Lebanon.
People on both sides have had to leave their homes because of the shooting and missile attacks that have been going on. The situation has gotten worse, which has made people fear an all-out war.
Gallant told reporters, “We don’t want war, but we are getting ready for everything that could happen.”
Gallant also told US officials about a three-level plan he had made for running Gaza after the war. This plan would include Palestinians living there, friends in the region, and the US, but not Israel or Hamas. The only thing he would say to reporters was that “it is a long and complex process that depends on many things.”
The Biden administration has told Israel many times that they need to make a serious plan for Gaza after the war, saying that not having one could lead to chaos.
Gallant said he also talked about how Israel was moving on to the next step in Gaza. The Israeli military says it is getting ready to switch to less intense actions against the last few Hamas fighters.
Iran, Israel’s biggest enemy in the area, was also a big topic of Gallant’s meetings.
Israel is becoming more worried about Iran’s nuclear program, but the US official said that intelligence reports show that Tehran is not “currently pursuing the procedures and processes they would need to develop an explosive nuclear device.” The official did say, though, that Iran had recently taken some “provocative steps.”
The official said that the US and Israel are trying to reschedule a meeting to talk about Iran. Because Netanyahu didn’t like the idea of the meeting, it was called off last week. Iran says that its nuclear program is only for good reasons.
