The Biden administration is again blocking licenses to sell more than 20,000 U.S. M16 rifles to Israel over concerns about attacks by extremist Israeli settlers on Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank, two U.S. officials told Axios.

The decision to refer the arms deal to the State Department for reconsideration shows that the Biden administration remains concerned that the Israeli government is not doing enough to reduce extremist settler violence.

The paper adds that Israel has requested rifles for civilian response teams for those living near Gaza, Lebanon and Syria.

Officials told Axios that the Biden administration expressed concern about comments by right-wing politician Itamar Ben Gvir, who heads the police, after he said he would hand over weapons to extremist settlers in the West Bank.

“This deal is not moving anywhere at this time,” a source told Axios.

“We need further assurances from Israel on the measures it will take to reduce violent settler attacks and to ensure that no new American weapons reach settlers in the West Bank,” the quoted source said.

The State Department could not publicly confirm or deny the story.

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