ISTANBUL

The US is weighing whether to slow down arms deliveries to Israel to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to scale down its assault on the Gaza Strip, according to a report published Sunday.

The NBC News outlet cited sources including three current US officials and a former one who said "the Pentagon has been reviewing what weaponry Israel has requested that could be used as leverage."

"The sources said Israeli officials continue to ask the administration for more weapons, including large aerial bombs, ammunition and air defenses," said NBC News.

"The US is considering slowing or pausing the deliveries in the hope that doing so will prod the Israelis to take action, such as opening humanitarian corridors to provide more aid to Palestinian civilians," it added.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.

Despite a provisional ruling Friday by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that ordered Israel to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza, it continued its onslaught against the coastal enclave, where at least 26,422 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and 65,087 injured since Oct. 7, according to Palestinian health authorities.

The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure was damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.