Israel and the United States are closing in on an agreement that would see the former pledge not to use Chinese technology in the construction of its 5G mobile telecoms network, Reuters said, citing an unnamed US official.

The move may prevent Chinese companies such as Huawei from participating in the construction of local 5G networks, the report said.

The official said on Friday that a memorandum of understanding between Israel and the United States could be signed "within weeks".

Before the Reuter report, an earlier Jerusalem Post report also quoted an unnamed US official as saying that the United States was “optimistic that Israel will … choose to only allow trusted vendors in its 5G networks”.

Last month, the UK government made a landmark decision to block Huawei equipment from being used throughout its 5G infrastructure.

UK decides to phase out Huawei from 5G networks

Starting December 31, mobile network operators in the UK would be forced to stop buying equipment from Huawei. They will also be required to strip out Huawei gear from their infrastructure by 2027.

Regarding the decision, Ed Brewster, a spokesperson for Huawei UK, said this disappointing decision is bad news for anyone in the UK with a mobile phone. It threatens to move Britain into the digital slow lane, push up bills and deepen the digital divide.

Instead of "levelling up" the government is levelling down and we urge them to reconsider, Brewster said.