But he also said it was "inconceivable that in the past few months, the administration has been withholding weapons and ammunitions to Israel".

Blinken, Netanyahu said, assured that the US administration was working "day and night" to remove such bottlenecks.

"I certainly hope that's the case. It should be the case," Netanyahu said. 

"Give us the tools and we'll finish the job a lot faster."

Blinken, asked at a news conference in Washington DC about Netanyahu's remarks, declined to say whether he had given the Israeli leader such assurances but said the US administration was still reviewing one shipment of large bombs for Israel over concerns about their use in densely populated areas.

He said other weapons shipments were moving as usual, citing security threats Israel faces beyond Gaza, including from Hezbollah and Iran, and that US President Joe Biden has been clear he would do everything he can to ensure Israel has what it needs to effectively defend itself.

"We, as you know, are continuing to review one shipment that President Biden has talked about with regard to 2000-pound bombs because of our concerns about their use in a densely populated area, like Rafah. That remains under review," Blinken said.

"But everything else is moving as it normally would move, and again with the perspective of making sure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself against this multiplicity of challenges."

Israeli military intelligence sounded clear warnings regarding a pending attack more than two weeks before Hamas launched its attack from the Gaza Strip on October 7 last year, according to Kan, the 

Israeli broadcaster Kan said in a report that plans to attack military bases and settlements and to take up to 250 hostages, including women and children, were set out in a document distributed within the Gaza Division of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) on September 19.

The report came from the highly regarded Unit 8200, an IDF unit responsible for collecting intelligence, but had apparently been ignored by senior officers. 

The worst-case scenario being considered was that a few dozen militants could enter Israel at three points.

A Kan military correspondent said: "The security system at the time was working towards pacification of the Gaza Strip, by means of improving living conditions for the civilian population, work permits for Palestinians and the lifting of restrictions on goods."

The IDF had relied on the border defences reaching deep into the ground but everything had collapsed on October 7, the correspondent reported. 

Senior officers in the Gaza Division had apparently dismissed the warnings.

Israeli air strikes on Tuesday killed at least 17 Palestinians in two of the Gaza Strip's historic refugee camps and Israeli tanks pushed deeper into Rafah, residents and medics said.

Residents reported heavy bombardments from tanks and planes in several areas of Rafah, where more than a million people had taken refuge before May. 

Most of the population has fled northwards since then as Israeli forces invaded the city.

"Rafah is being bombed without any intervention from the world, the occupation (Israel) is acting freely here," a Rafah resident and father of six told Reuters via a chat app.

Israeli tanks were operating inside Tel al-Sultan, al-Izba and Zurub areas in Rafah's west, as well as Shaboura at the heart of the city. 

They also continued to occupy the eastern neighbourhoods and outskirts as well as the border with Egypt and the Rafah border crossing.

Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip have claimed the lives of 17 people and injured dozens more, Palestinian authorities said on Tuesday.

with DPA

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