Israeli defence minister Gallant sees ‘significant progress’ in ensuring US weapons supply
After a meeting with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Israel Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said progress was made on “a variety of issues”, including “the topic of force build-up and munition supply that we must bring to the state of Israel”.
“During the meetings, we made significant progress. Obstacles were removed and bottlenecks were addressed,” Gallant said. “I would like to thank the US administration and the American public for their enduring support for the state of Israel.”
In recent days, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly accused the US Biden administration of slowing down weapons deliveries to Israel, which has been at war in Gaza since October 7.
US officials, however, have repeatedly denied his claims and said that their country had only frozen a single shipment in May over concerns about civilian casualties in Rafah. That shipment included heavy 2,000-pound bombs.
Israeli minister orders food reduction for Palestinian prisoners
Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir says he has ordered a further reduction in the amount of food offered to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, advancing a policy that rights groups have compared to forced starvation.
After October 7, Ben-Gvir closed prison canteens and kitchens, leaving Palestinian detainees entirely reliant on the prisons themselves for food.
In a letter on Wednesday, however, he said he gave further instructions to reduce the amount of food given to the prisoners. He said the move was aimed at deterring attacks from fighters, but he did not explain how the two could be related.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel has challenged the food restrictions in court, arguing they amount to a policy of starvation.
Citing prisoner testimony, the rights group says the food provided is insufficient and unhealthy and has led to “severe damage to [prisoners’] health and dignity”. It says the prisoners suffer from “constant hunger, extreme weight loss [and] forced fasting” and are held in “veritable torture conditions”.
Since the start of the war, the number of Palestinian prisoners has ballooned, as Israel carried out large-scale raids in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank. The total number of Palestinians held by Israel has climbed to about 9,000 since October 7.
