U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken promised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on June 10 that the Biden administration would resume all arms shipments to the Jewish state "in the coming days," according to reports in Hebrew media on Tuesday morning.
The news comes as intense combat operations against Hamas in the Gaza Strip are winding down, with most of the terror group's battalions dismantled.
Netanyahu told Blinken during their meeting in Jerusalem last week that Washington had effectively suspended all military aid to the IDF amid the war in Gaza and the looming escalation with Hezbollah on the northern border, according to Israel's Channel 12.
Last month, administration officials confirmed a decision to withhold the delivery of thousands of bombs to Israel amid U.S. concerns that the Israel Defense Forces would use them in the Hamas stronghold of Rafah.
The announcement came as President Joe Biden told CNN that he would be halting the shipment of offensive weapons if Jerusalem went ahead with its counterterrorism operation in Gaza's southernmost city.
"If they go into Rafah, I'm not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities — that deal with that problem," Biden told CNN's Erin Burnett in an interview.
Netanyahu reportedly told Blinken during their meeting that while Israel would continue to fight with without U.S. support, the arms embargo gave Iran-backed Hamas and Hezbollah a strategic edge, raising the chances of a prolonged war on multiple fronts in the Middle East.
On May 16, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill meant to force the White House to provide the delayed military aid.
The act would cut off funding for the Pentagon, U.S. State Department, and National Security Council if Biden did not release the shipment or withhold any future shipment of arms to Israel.
The White House had said the president would veto the legislation if it came across his desk, stating, "This bill could raise serious concerns about infringement on the president's authorities under Article II of the Constitution, including his duties as commander-in-chief and chief executive and his power to conduct foreign relations."
Republished with permission from Jewish News Syndicate.