President Trump’s administration may lift a hold put in place by former US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on delivering 24,000 assault rifles to Israel, Al Jazeera reports citing The New York Times.

Blinken reportedly instructed the State Department not to deliver the weapons shipment, which Israel ordered in October 2023 and comprised three tranches valued at a total of $34m.

Democratic lawmakers feared the rifles could end up in the hands of Israeli settler militias in the occupied West Bank, or Israeli police would use them in acts of violence against Palestinians, according to the Times report.