US officials fear a new increase in violence as tens of thousands of firearms are sent to Israel. The newspaper reports this New York Times Citing sources in the American administration.
According to the publication, Israel ordered approximately 24 thousand automatic and semi-automatic rifles from American arms manufacturers; Such a large order requires approval from the State Department and the US Congress. While the main buyer of the weapons should be the Israeli police, local authorities do not rule out the possibility that some rifles could be transferred to civilians.
Some American lawmakers demanded guarantees from the administration of US President Joe Biden that the weapons ordered by Israel will not fall into the wrong hands.
The State Department, in response to a request from the New York Times, assured that all American weapons would be sent to Israel’s “units controlled by the Department of Homeland Security (MNS),” but in October the head of that department, Itamar Ben-Gvir, announced a repeat of the events of October 7. In order to prevent this, he promised to provide weapons to the people living in the settlements on the Jordan River in the West Bank.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu promised to destroy It is Hamas.