The Biden administration informed Israel on Tuesday that it must sign a letter by mid-March that outlines assurances that it will abide by international law when using US weapons and allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, Axios reported on Tuesday evening.

According to the report, which is based on three US and Israeli officials, if Israel does not sign the letter, the US will pause weapons transfers to the Jewish state.

Signing off on the assurances is now a requirement based on a national security memorandum that President Joe Biden issued earlier this month that states that countries must provide “credible and reliable written assurances” prior to being supplied with US weapons.

The memorandum doesn’t single out Israel but it was issued after Democratic senators slammed Israel’s military campagin in Gaza. Specifically, the memorandum was issued “after pressure from Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and other senators who wanted to add these requirements as an amendment to the Senate supplemental funding bill.”

“Myself and the co-sponsors of the amendment made it clear to Majority Leader Schumer that we are determined to have a vote if we don’t succeed in implementing it through executive action,” Van Hollen told Axios. “That and the fact that it made sense on the merit of it, persuaded the administration that they should work with us on this.”

Three U.S. officials told Axios that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer expressed concerns to the White House that such an amendment would divide the Democratic caucus in the Senate and asked to take executive action instead.

A White House National Security Council spokesperson said that “Israel has already indicated … it anticipates being able to provide the relevant assurances,” adding that the assurances are not “Israel-specific” and the “timing is also expressly outlined” in the memorandum.

The spokesperson also said that the memorandum “did not impose new standards for military aid but instead provided a transparent, consistent structure for obtaining assurances for compliance with those preexisting standards.”

The memorandum also requires that countries using US weapons must provide “credible and reliable written assurances” that it will “facilitate and not arbitrarily deny, restrict, or otherwise impede, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance and United States Government-supported international efforts to provide humanitarian assistance.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)