Netanyahu claims he received US assurances to lift limits on arms transfers to Israel

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Tuesday to have received assurances from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken about lifting restrictions on arms transfers to Israel.

Blinken visited Israel last week as part of a regional tour that included Egypt, Jordan and Qatar to advance efforts to reach a cease-fire deal in the Gaza Strip between Hamas and Israel.

“When Secretary Blinken was recently here in Israel, we had a candid conversation. I said I deeply appreciated the support the US has given Israel from the beginning of the war,” Netanyahu said in a video message. “But I also said something else. I said it's inconceivable that in the past few months, the administration has been withholding weapons and ammunitions to Israel.”

The premier claimed Israel is “fighting for its life, fighting against Iran and our other common enemies.”

"Secretary Blinken assured me that the administration is working day and night to remove these bottlenecks. I certainly hope that's the case. It should be the case,” he said.

Netanyahu said more US weapons will help Israel finish the Gaza war more rapidly.

“During World War II, (UK leader Winston) Churchill told the United States, ‘Give us the tools, we’ll do the job,'” Netanyahu said. “And I say, give us the tools and we’ll finish the job a lot faster.”

In early May, US President Joe Biden paused the delivery of a weapons shipment that included 2,000-pound bombs which Israel previously used to flatten wide swathes of Gaza. Biden’s decision to halt the shipments was made because he was concerned about Israel's planned invasion of the southern city of Rafah.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas.

More than 37,350 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and over 85,400 others injured, according to local health authorities.

More than eight months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.