Washington
CNN
—
U.S. officials briefed Israel’s defense minister this week on hundreds of U.S. arms shipments to the country, in a move to counter claims by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the Biden administration is delaying military aid.
The meeting with Defense Minister Yoav Galant came amid growing tensions between the Biden administration and Netanyahu, who has infuriated Washington by saying the military buildup is slow. It was the latest clash between the two allies, who are divided over Israel’s tactics in Gaza.
U.S. officials who met with Gallant this week held “experts-to-experts” discussions that brought together experts from across the government to take a detailed look at the current state of munitions shipments.
“We had a very good opportunity to sit down with experts from across the system and look at all the cases,” a senior U.S. official said. “This is one of the most complex and most multifaceted security partnerships we have.”
CNN has reviewed publicly available flight tracking data and found that a steady stream of US military and Israeli cargo planes have arrived in Israel since war between Israel and Hamas erupted in October.
US officials confirmed that the aircraft identified by CNN was carrying military aid from US stockpiles to Israel.
“These flights demonstrate the steady flow of Department of Defense support and underscore Israel’s use of contract aircraft to transport security assistance,” the official said.
CNN reviewed ADS-B Exchange and Flight Radar 24 flight tracking data and was able to identify at least 68 flights between US airbases and Israel, a number that includes both US military flights and Israeli-contracted cargo planes.
October and January had the highest number of flights, with 15 and 14 respectively, but other months averaged around five flights transporting military supplies to Israel, the data showed.
The data shows that military shipments by air have continued steadily since the first shipments began early in the war, refuting claims by the Israeli government that U.S. military supplies to Israel have dropped dramatically. The list compiled by CNN is not comprehensive and includes only flights that were listed on flight tracking websites – that is, planes with their transponders turned on. Military aircraft, unlike passenger and cargo planes, are more difficult to track because their transponders are often turned off.
The United States has suspended arms shipments to Israel, including 500- and 2,000-pound bombs, due to concerns that such weapons could cause civilian casualties if used in densely populated areas of Gaza.
“We have temporarily suspended that shipment,” Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said at a press conference Monday. “Other supplies are moving normally and on schedule. There is no reduction in shipments.”
The U.S. has been transferring hundreds of weapons each month since the spring and in recent weeks, according to sources briefed on arms transfers to Israel. While the exact numbers transferred and information about the specific weapons contained in each shipment are classified, the sources said hundreds of GBU-39 small diameter bombs, artillery shells, tank rounds and other weapons continue to flow in.
A senior government official said Netanyahu’s claims, made multiple times last week, including in an English-language video posted on social media, were the result of a “misunderstanding” on the Israeli side.
“There is something happening literally every day across the U.S. government and Israeli systems, but we have been able to see everything,” the official said, adding that the U.S. was able to clarify the status of certain shipments going through a complex delivery process.
The official said “substantial progress” had been made in better understanding the process and the prioritization of certain cases, adding that they agreed to identify “inefficiencies” going forward.
“This is a very large effort, and nothing has been stopped other than that one shipment,” the administration official said, referring to the larger bombs that President Biden halted last month. Discussions are continuing about how to resolve that suspension.
Instead, officials acknowledged that there is a “complex and bureaucratic” system that is causing long delays in the delivery of some shipments.
A State Department official stressed that “everything else is on track” except for the hold on the heavy bombs. The official said “we continue to have constructive discussions with Israel” about the release of the heavy bombs, but gave no further update on when the hold would be lifted.
The official said the U.S. has “injected billions of dollars into security assistance to Israel since the Oct. 7 attacks,” noting that the administration has passed “the largest ever supplemental budget for emergency assistance to Israel.” The official said the administration is “committed to ensuring that Israel receives every dollar allocated in the supplemental budget,” and also noted the recent approval of $827 million in foreign military funding for weapons and equipment.
In a video posted to X last week, Netanyahu publicly claimed the Biden administration was “holding back weapons” and that Secretary of State Antony Blinken had “assured me that the administration is working around the clock to remove these bottlenecks.”
Biden halted deliveries of heavy bombs as Israel prepared for an operation on the southern city of Rafah, but deliveries of other weapons continued.
Since Netanyahu first publicly aired his grievances last week, White House officials have dismissed some of his comments as politically motivated to maintain a fragile grip on power, but they have nevertheless sparked deep discontent within the White House.
Officials had no idea what he was talking about and described his comments as “baffling,” “frustrating” and “inaccurate.”
“I am willing to accept personal attacks if it is necessary to obtain the weapons and ammunition needed to fight a war for Israel’s survival,” Netanyahu responded.
By the weekend, the White House said it had no interest in discussions with the prime minister.
“We have repeatedly made our position clear on this matter and will not continue to react to the prime minister’s political rhetoric. We look forward to constructive discussions with the defence secretary in Washington this week,” a White House official said.
This story has been updated with additional reports.
CNN’s Kylie Atwood, Jennifer Hansler and Gianluca Mezzofiore contributed to this report.
