Netanyahu and the White House remain at odds over claims that the US is withholding weapons in Israel’s war with Hamas

The public war of words between Israel and the United States continued on Thursday, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded sharply at the White House after the Biden administration again rejected his claim that the United States was withholding weapons from Israel in its fight against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

His reaction came shortly after White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby called Netanyahu’s claim “confusing to say the least” in a phone call with reporters on Thursday, and two days after the White House bluntly said it “really doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

In a video he released earlier this week, Netanyahu claimed that “the government has withheld weapons and ammunition” that Israel needs to fight Hamas.

On Thursday he said: “I am prepared to endure personal attacks, provided that Israel receives from the United States the ammunition it needs in the war for its existence.”

Kirby expressed the White House’s frustration.

“Of course, we did not know that this video was going to appear, and it was confusing to say the least, and certainly disappointing, especially given that no other country is doing more to help Israel defend itself against the threat posed by Hamas, or, frankly, against other threats that the country faces in the region, such as the United States,” he said, adding that he had “no idea” what prompted the Israeli politician to release the video.

“There has been no change in our position,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken insisted on Tuesday, saying it was the “regular order” with the exception of a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs that was suspended due to Biden’s publicly expressed concerns that the imprecise munitions could be used in the southern Gaza city of Rafah and other areas with high civilian populations.

Two officials involved in approving arms sales to Israel supported the minister’s comments, telling ABC News that the government continues to process both long-standing requests in the pipeline and new orders placed after the conflict began.

“You would have to speak to the prime minister about what prompted him to do that,” Kirby said of his video comments. “That was also upsetting and disappointing for us – as well as wrong. So it’s difficult to know exactly what he had in mind.”

When asked about behind-the-scenes efforts to get Netanyahu to apologize for the video, Kirby also said: “I think we have made it abundantly clear to our Israeli colleagues across various media outlets our deep disappointment with the statements made in this video and our concerns about the accuracy of the statements made.”

Despite growing public tensions, officials from both countries met in Washington on Thursday to discuss the ongoing war. Kirby confirmed that National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will still meet with senior Israeli officials who are coming to the White House.

“Jake (Sullivan) will meet with his counterpart today,” Kirby said, referring to Tzachi Hanegbi, the head of Israel’s National Security Council. He also said Ron Dermer, Israel’s minister for strategic affairs, would attend the meeting.

“You can imagine there will be a wide-ranging discussion about everything that’s going on in the Gaza war, about our support for Israel, about our efforts to get a better sense of how they’re continuing their operations against Hamas, and also about the importance of getting this agreement done,” Kirby said ahead of the meeting.

Biden’s team was angry and frustrated by Netanyahu’s video, a US official told ABC News on Wednesday, adding that US officials made it clear to the Israelis that Netanyahu’s video was inaccurate and inappropriate.

The meeting comes after the United States canceled another meeting between American and Israeli officials to discuss Iran in response to the Netanyahu video, administration officials confirmed to ABC News.

However, the White House denied claims that a high-level meeting between the US and Israel on Iran scheduled for this Thursday was cancelled specifically because of the video, instead citing scheduling issues as the reason for the meeting’s cancellation. The White House also insists that the meeting will be postponed.

At the State Department, spokesman Matt Miller announced Thursday that Blinken would meet with Dermer and Hanegbi on Thursday afternoon.

Miller said that during the meeting, officials would discuss “our ongoing efforts to achieve a ceasefire that ensures the release of all hostages.” They would also talk about the situation in northern Israel along the border with Lebanon. They would also talk about ongoing efforts to “bring humanitarian aid to Gaza and the work that needs to be done to speed up and improve that process.”

ABC News’ Will Gretzky and Shannon K. Crawford contributed to this report.