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US, Israel Move to Resolve Weapons Shipment Dispute as Attention Turns to Looming Hezbollah Conflict
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant as they make brief statements to the media at The Kirya, Israel’s Ministry of Defense, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Oct. 16, 2023. Photo: Jacquelyn Martin/Pool via REUTERS
The United States and Israel have taken steps to resolve some of the issues hampering weapons shipments from the US to the Jewish state, but at least one bomb delivery is still being blocked as the world’s focus increasingly shifts from Gaza to a potential Israeli conflict with the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant arrived in Washington this week to meet with White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin about the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, escalating tensions with Hezbollah, and potentially resuming all scheduled weapons transfers to the Jewish state.
US arms transfers to Israel have slowed in recent months as international scrutiny over the Jewish state’s war in Gaza has intensified. The Biden administration paused a shipment of 2,000 lb bombs to Israel in an attempt to discourage the country from conducting extensive military operations in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, a step that Israel insists is necessary to complete the dismantling of the remaining Hamas battalions.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu further complicated matters after he released a video publicly accusing the Biden administration of withholding arms shipments and indicating he was promised by Blinken that Washington would resolve the delays. The video incensed the White House, throwing a wrench in ongoing negotiations with Israel to resume weapons transfers. The video also ignited a feud between Netanyahu and Gallant, with the defense minister’s aides claiming the prime minister released the video to sabotage Gallant’s upcoming meeting with US officials.
Resuming weapons shipments could prove critical for Israel as it prepares to potentially ramp up military operations against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah, like Hamas, is an Islamist terrorist organization backed by Iran.
In Israel’s north, Hezbollah terrorists have been firing rockets at Israel daily from southern Lebanon since Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre, leading Israeli forces to strike back. Tensions have been escalating between both sides, fueling concerns that the conflict in Gaza — the Palestinian enclave ruled by Hamas to Israel’s south — could escalate into a regional conflict.
More than 80,000 Israelis have evacuated Israel’s north and been unable to return to their homes. The majority of those spent the past eight months residing in hotels in safer areas of the country.
While in Washington, DC, Gallant warned on Wednesday that the Jewish state is prepared to take Lebanon “back to the stone age” if it does not cease its attacks.
“We do not want war, but we are preparing for every scenario,” Gallant told reporters. “Hezbollah understands very well that we can inflict massive damage in Lebanon if a war is launched.”
The Biden administration has attempted to ease tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, wishing not see the conflict escalate into a full-scale war. Austin met with Gallant on Tuesday to collaborate on how to “de-escalate tensions along the Israel-Lebanon border.” The US defense chief warned that intensifying provocations against Israel could “threaten to drag the Israeli and Lebanese people into a war that neither of them wants, and that such a war would be catastrophic for Lebanon and it would be devastating for innocent Israeli and Lebanese civilians.”
Hezbollah wields significant political and military influence across Hezbollah.
The post US, Israel Move to Resolve Weapons Shipment Dispute as Attention Turns to Looming Hezbollah Conflict first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.