U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will meet with his Israeli counterpart, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, at the Pentagon on Wednesday as the U.S. ally mulls how to respond to last week’s Iranian attack.
The visit is Gallant’s third to Washington, D.C., since Hamas attacked Israel a year ago, sparking a war in the Gaza Strip and conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Defense chiefs will “further discuss ongoing security developments in the Middle East,” Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters Monday.
Gallant last visited the U.S. in March and June, and he and Austin have also spoken by phone more than 80 times in the past year, per the Pentagon.
No other meetings with Gallant have been announced, though he is expected to meet with other senior Biden administration officials.
Communication between Biden administration officials and Gallant have taken place far more frequently than with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has had a strained relationship with President Biden since the start of the war. The two have not spoken in nearly 50 days.
Tensions between the two leaders as of late center around Netanyahu’s rejection of a plan for a 21-day cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, coordinated by the U.S. and France and proposed last month as Israel stepped up airstrikes across Lebanon.
A cease-fire deal has also proved elusive for Israel’s war in Gaza, launched in retaliation for Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, raid into Israel that killed more than 1,200. Israel has killed at least 41,000 Palestinians, including 16,500 children, since the war started, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The Israel-Hamas war also sparked the current conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon, which has rapidly escalated since late last month with increased Israeli airstrikes across the country and a limited ground invasion, in operations that have killed more than 2,000 people, according to local officials.
The ramped-up strikes in Lebanon, which also killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and a number of top officials within the Iranian-backed rebel group, prompted Tehran to fire some 180 missiles at Israel last week.
Since then, the Biden administration has continued to express support for Israel even as it seeks to quell the regional tensions from tipping into full-blown war across the Middle East.
Austin called Gallant on Sunday to once again offer the United States’s “unwavering” commitment to Israel’s security.
“Secretary Austin noted that tomorrow marks one year since Hamas perpetrated the worst terrorist attack against Israel in its history, and he reiterated unwavering U.S. commitment to Israel’s security, a ceasefire in Gaza, and a diplomatic resolution that enables citizens to return safely to their homes on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border,” according to a readout of the call.
Austin told Gallant that the U.S. military maintains “significant capability” in the region to defend U.S. personnel and to support Israel’s self-defense.
The two leaders also “reiterated their commitment to deterring Iran and Iranian-backed partners and proxies from taking advantage of the situation or expanding the conflict.”