Citing US officials familiar with the matter, US media reported on Wednesday that the sale of 20,000 US-made M16 rifles is being sent to the State Department for an additional review because the Biden administration does not feel confident the Israeli government is doing enough to crack down on extremist Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
The report underscored that officials within the administration "need more assurances" from the Israeli government that it will do enough to curb the violence in the West Bank.
"This deal isn't moving anywhere at the moment," a US official told the outlet. "We need more assurances from Israel about the steps it is going to take to curb attacks by violent settlers and to make sure no new US weapons will reach settlers in the West Bank."
The pullback on the weapons sale came several weeks after an agreement had been struck between Israeli and American officials that none of the rifles would be given to civilian security teams established within border villages near Gaza.
The civilian teams are intended to act as first responders in the event of a terror attack, and are trained by Israeli police. However, concerns were spiked within the Biden White House after officials caught wind of a report alleging Itamar Ben Gvir, Israel's national security minister, issued an order for police to not arrest any violent settlers in the region.
The Wednesday report comes on the heels of a decision by the US to officially impose visa restrictions against any individual believed to have engaged in violence in the West Bank. Reports have indicated that settler violence has more than doubled since the October 7 surprise attack by Hamas.