US withholding weapons needed for Gaza war, claims Israel’s Netanyahu - VIDEO

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday claimed the United States is withholding weapons and implied this was slowing Israel’s offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where fighting has exacerbated the already dire humanitarian situation for Palestinians, News.Az reports citing AP.

President Joe Biden has delayed delivering certain heavy bombs since May over concerns about Israel’s killing of civilians in Gaza. Yet the administration has gone to lengths to avoid any suggestion that Israeli forces have crossed a red line in the deepening Rafah invasion, which would trigger a more sweeping ban on arms transfers.

Netanyahu, in a short video, spoke directly to the camera in English as he lobbed sharp criticisms at Biden over “bottlenecks” in arms transfers.

“It’s inconceivable that in the past few months, the administration has been withholding weapons and ammunitions to Israel,” Netanyahu said, adding, “Give us the tools and we’ll finish the job a lot faster.”

Netanyahu also claimed U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a recent visit to Israel, said he was working around the clock to end the delays.

#Israeli Prime Minister @Netanyahu wrote an angry letter to the #United States and demanded more weapons, which the IDF lacks to continue the war in the #Gaza Strip pic.twitter.com/MyV0X3oEHJ

— News.Az (@news_az) June 19, 2024

However, Blinken said Tuesday the only pause was related to those heavy bombs from May.

“We, as you know, are continuing to review one shipment that President Biden has talked about with regard to 2,000-pound bombs because of our concerns about their use in a densely populated area like Rafah,” Blinken said during a State Department news conference. “That remains under review. But everything else is moving as it normally would.”

Netanyahu didn’t elaborate on what weapons were being held back, and the Israeli military declined to respond to a request for comment. Ophir Falk, a foreign policy adviser to Netanyahu, deferred questions on details to the U.S. government.

Responding to Netanyahu’s claim Tuesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, “We generally do not know what he’s talking about. We just don’t.”

She added that the U.S. is having “constructive discussions” with Israel about the paused shipment of heavy bombs and that it’s the only transfer being delayed.

News.Az