GAZA, June 23 (AFP/BBC/Reuters): Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant was headed to Washington on Sunday for "critical" talks on the Gaza war raging since October 7 and surging cross-border tensions with Lebanon's Hezbollah movement.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced hope for speedy progress on unfreezing US arms and ammunition deliveries from Israel's top ally which he said had dropped off sharply in recent months.
US President Joe Biden has been at odds with Israel's veteran right-wing leader over Gaza's surging civilian death toll, but US officials have said they were not aware of what Netanyahu was referring to on the arms issue.
The Israeli premier on Sunday told his cabinet that "about four months ago, there was a dramatic drop in the supply of armaments arriving from the US to Israel. We got all sorts of explanations, but... the basic situation didn't change."
Hezbollah targets Israeli barracks
after commander's death
Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group said Sunday it had targeted a military position in northern Israel with an armed drone in response to the killing of an Islamist commander.
Israel and the powerful Iran-backed group, a Hamas ally, have exchanged near-daily cross-border fire since the Gaza war erupted on October 7.
Hezbollah's announcement came hours after it published a video excerpt purporting to show locations in Israel along with their coordinates, amid heightening fears of an all-out conflict between the two foes.
On Saturday, the Jamaa Islamiya group announced the death of one of its commanders, Ayman Ghotmeh, saying he was killed "in a treacherous Zionist raid" in Khiara in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa area.
Israel later confirmed it had carried out the strike, saying Ghotmeh was responsible for supplying the Fajr Forces, Jamaa Islamiya's armed wing, and Hamas with weapons in the area.
Israeli forces strap wounded
Palestinian to jeep during raid
Israeli army forces strapped a wounded Palestinian man to the hood of a military jeep during an arrest raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on Saturday.
A video circulating on social media and verified by Reuters showed a Palestinian resident of Jenin, Mujahed Azmi, on the jeep that passes through two ambulances.
The Israeli military in a statement said Israeli forces were fired at and exchanged fire, wounding a suspect and apprehending him. Soldiers then violated military protocol, the statement said. "The suspect was taken by the forces while tied on top of a vehicle," it said.
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