The Israeli government said on Wednesday that weapons and ammunition from the U.S. were “in the process of being delivered to Israel”.
Netanyahu on Tuesday claimed the U.S. was 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.
Biden has delayed delivering certain heavy bombs to Israel since May over concerns about the killing of civilians in Gaza.
However, 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.
David Mencer, a spokesman for the Israeli government, said the U.S. ambassador to Israel had informed Netanyahu that ammunition and weapons were in the process of being delivered.
With fighting escalating in recent weeks between Lebanon’s Hezbollah group and Israel, Mencer reiterated that “one way or another, diplomatically or through military means, our northern border, the north of our country, Israeli sovereign territory will be made safe for Israel’s population.”
Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah have exchanged fire across the border almost daily since the Israel-Hamas war broke out in October.
Hezbollah said at least three of its fighters were killed in Israeli strikes on Wednesday as a U.S. envoy works to quell tensions.
Lebanese state media reported multiple Israeli strikes along the border and in an area north of the coastal city of Tyre, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the frontier on Wednesay.
The Israeli military said two Hezbollah launches damaged several vehicles in northern Israel.
The fighting came as Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden, returned to Israel after meeting with officials in Lebanon on Tuesday.
There has been no word on whether he has made progress in his efforts to avoid a devastating regional war.
Israeli strikes already have killed more than 400 people in Lebanon, most of them Hezbollah fighters, but at least 80 of the fatalities were civilians.
In northern Israel, 16 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed.
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