Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is in Washington, D.C., to meet with U.S. officials this week amid a diplomatic spat between the two countries over military aid.
He met with U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein and Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday and will meet with U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Tuesday morning.
His trip comes as Israel is winding down its operations in Gaza against Hamas, tensions in the north with Hezbollah are rising, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to fight with the Biden administration.
Gallant and Hochstein “discussed necessary actions to return the residents of the north to their homes,” the former said on X, referencing the tens of thousands of Israelis who live along the northern border but were evacuated from their homes months ago due to the threats posed by Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“The transition to Phase C of the fighting in Gaza will affect all sectors of the fighting — we are preparing for every possibility, military and political,” Gallant added.
Over the weekend, Netanyahu said that “the intense phase of the fighting against Hamas is about to end.”
The prime minister accused the United States of slowing military aid to Israel last week, which the Biden administration has rejected. The prime minister has said multiple times recently that about four months ago, “there was a dramatic decrease in the munitions coming to Israel from the U.S.,” and he went public with it “after months in which there was no change in this situation.”
There have been reports that the U.S. is not delaying arms shipments to Israel but is no longer fast-tracking them.
U.S. officials have maintained that the only military aid to Israel that has been paused is one shipment of heavy bombs, which was announced several weeks ago and remains halted.
Gallant will visit the Pentagon on Tuesday. He and Austin will discuss “ongoing security developments in the Middle East region,” Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder told reporters on Monday.
Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged rocket fire over the border dating back to the day after Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attack that prompted the war in Gaza. Leaders of both sides have threatened a more significant conflict.
Hezbollah is believed to have a more sophisticated arsenal than Hamas and more fighters. An all-out war would likely lead to significant casualties and devastation in both countries.
The U.S. desperately wants to avoid a wider and potentially regional war.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Gen. Charles Q. Brown, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Iran “would be more inclined to support Hezbollah,” according to the Associated Press, “particularly if they felt that Hezbollah was being significantly threatened.”