The Biden administration is delaying a shipment of more than 20,000 American-made M16 rifles to Israel over alleged attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank.

"This deal isn't moving anywhere at the moment," a U.S. official told Axios. "We need more assurances from Israel about the steps it is going to take to curb attacks by violent settlers and to make sure no new U.S. weapons will reach settlers in the West Bank."

A State Department spokesperson told Axios: "We are restricted from publicly confirming or commenting on details regarding direct commercial defense sales licensing activities."

Israel requested the rifles during the first week of its war with Hamas terrorists following the Oct. 7 attack in which more than 1,200 Israeli civilians were massacred and more than 200 others taken hostage.

Axios reported the rifles were for civilian initial response teams in Israeli villages close to the borders with Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria. Those residents receive weapons and training from Israeli police to be first responders in case of a terror attack.

But the Biden administration reportedly ordered a State Department review of the congressionally approved deal in response to concerns that Israel wasn't doing enough to curb settler violence.

Several weeks after the deal was approved, the State Department began to slow-walk the process and put the licenses under a new review, Axios reported, citing two U.S. officials who said the reason for the new review was a feeling in the Biden administration the Israeli government wasn't doing enough to tackle settler violence and claiming the U.S. is "inflating the issue."

The Biden administration was alarmed by a news report press about a secret document written by Maj. Gen. Yehuda Fox, commander of Israel Defense Forces Central Command, that claimed National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who oversees the police, gave an order to police not to arrest violent settlers in the West Bank.

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