At the close of a lengthy press conference on January 27, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a striking public allegation: some Israeli soldiers who died in Gaza did so in part because the United States delayed shipments of weapons, producing dangerous ammunition shortages.
Netanyahu said Israel had “paid a very heavy price” in the war and conceded that part of the toll was inevitable, but added that "at some stage we did not have enough ammunition," a shortfall he ascribed "to some degree" to what he called an effective "embargo." He did not explicitly name the Biden administration, but contrasted the current situation with the period after Donald Trump took office.
The claim drew a swift rebuttal from Amos Hochstein, a former U.S. Middle East official in the Biden administration. Hochstein pointed to more than $20 billion in military assistance provided by the United States and suggested that Washington had already done what it could to help, saying that the appropriate response from Israel was gratitude rather than accusation.
Israeli analysts are split on how much delayed shipments affected operations in Gaza. Some observers say pauses or slowdowns in transfers had operational consequences; others argue that the root cause of shortages was Israeli unpreparedness for the October 7, 2023 Hamas assault that precipitated the wider conflict and stretched Israel’s stocks and logistics.
For some in Israel the perception of U.S. inaction feels like betrayal. Former national security adviser Yaakov Amidror said Washington’s restraint "is not something friends do," warning that the impression of an arms "withholding" might encourage other states to limit supplies as well. Amidror also expressed puzzlement at Netanyahu’s timing in raising the charge.
The allegation comes as Israel and the United States prepare to open talks on a successor memorandum of understanding for long-term military aid; the previous decade-long, $38 billion package negotiated under Barack Obama expires in 2028. The debate over weapons flows is unfolding amid evidence of eroding American public support for further aid to Israel after the Gaza campaign and high civilian casualty figures that have drawn international condemnation.
Independent appraisal of the operational impact of any U.S. delays is difficult: weapons logistics, procurement timelines and battlefield consumption are complex, and different actors point to different proximate causes. Still, the public charge by Israel’s prime minister risks adding strain to a close security relationship at a delicate negotiating moment, even as both governments continue to cooperate on resupply and other security needs.