US pauses and reviews one shipment of bombs for Israel 

US President Joe Biden’s top aides told the visiting Israeli defence minister this week that Washington is maintaining a pause on a shipment of heavy bombs for Israel while the issue is under review, a senior US official said on Wednesday. The official briefed reporters about national security adviser Jake Sullivan’s meeting with Minister Yoav Gallant, Reuters has reported.

The allies remain in discussions about the single shipment of powerful munitions, which was paused by Biden in May over concerns that they could be used to kill more Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Without providing specifics, the official said that other US weapons — believed to be worth billions of dollars — will continue to flow to Israel, which is continuing with its offensive against the Palestinians in Gaza and is exchanging fire with Hezbollah fighters on its border with Lebanon, where increased hostilities have spurred fears of a wider regional conflict.

Gallant warned during his visit that Israel was capable of taking Lebanon “back to the Stone Age” in any war with Iran-backed Hezbollah, but stressed that his government prefers a diplomatic solution being pursued by the United States. Wrapping up his trip, Gallant said on Wednesday that there had been significant progress on the issue of US munitions supply to Israel, adding that “obstacles were removed and bottlenecks were addressed.”

The minister and US officials sought to cool tensions following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent claims that Washington was withholding weapons, prompting Biden’s aides to express disappointment and confusion over the Israeli leader’s remarks

“We are in discussions ultimately to find a resolution,” the senior US official said on condition of anonymity. “But I think the president has expressed his concerns about that one shipment, and those are very valid concerns.”

The official acknowledged that there have been “bottlenecks” in some weapons deliveries to Israel but attributed that to a “complicated bureaucratic system” for approving military assistance and not any deliberate slowdown.

According to Gallant, he also discussed with US officials the need to resolve the “security situation in the north,” insisting that Israel cannot accept Hezbollah “military formations” on the border with Lebanon. An exchange of shelling and missile strikes has led to the evacuation of tens of thousands of people on both sides, and escalation has sparked fears of an all-out war. “We do not want war, but we are preparing for every scenario,” the minister told reporters.

He also laid out to US officials a three-level “day after” proposal for governance of post-war Gaza that would include local Palestinians, regional partners and the US, but not Israel or Hamas. He offered reporters few specifics, however, and said, “It is a long and complex process that depends on many things.” The next phase of the Israeli assault, the Israeli military has said, will apparently be “lower-intensity operations” against the remaining Hamas fighters.

The chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court is seeking arrest warrants against Gallant and Netanyahu. Gallant fuelled concerns about Israel’s genocidal intentions when he said last October, “I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we act accordingly.”

READ: Netanyahu fears potential ICC arrest warrants for Gaza crimes by 24 July