The Biden administration approved more than $20 billion package for new weapons sales to Israel, defying the pressure from rights activists to halt arms deliveries due to the death toll in Gaza. The weapons delivery will take years to complete.
In a notification to Congress, the state department announced the approval of a sale consisting of 50 F-15 fighter jets to Israel for $18.82 billion.Along with the jets, Israel will purchase nearly 33,000 tank cartridges, up to 50,000 explosive mortar cartridges, and new military cargo vehicles. The F-15 jets, equipped with advanced radar and secure communications gear, will significantly upgrade Israel’s existing fleet when they begin arriving in 2029.
“The United States is committed to the security of Israel, and it is vital to US national interests to assist Israel to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defence capability,” the state department stated in its notice on the F-15s, which Boeing produces.
Regarding the tank cartridges, the United States emphasised that the sale “will improve Israel’s capability to meet current and future enemy threats, strengthen its homeland defence, and serve as a deterrent to regional threats.”
Congress retains the authority to block weapons sales, but doing so is challenging. Human rights groups and some progressive members of Biden’s Democratic Party have urged the administration to halt arms sales to Israel, condemning the high number of civilian casualties in the Gaza conflict. Josh Paul, who resigned from the state department last year over Gaza policy, criticised Israel’s actions.
“Authorizing billions of dollars in new arms transfers effectively provides Israel a carte blanche to continue its atrocities in Gaza and to escalate the conflict to Lebanon,” said Paul, who now works at the Middle East rights group, Dawn.
Recently, rescuers in Gaza, controlled by Hamas, reported that 93 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a school housing displaced Palestinians. Israel claimed it was targeting militants at the school. While Biden administration officials expressed concern over civilian deaths, they did not comment on whether US-supplied weapons were used in the strike.
Earlier in May, Biden paused a shipment to Israel that included 2,000-pound bombs and cautioned against a large-scale assault on Rafah in southern Gaza, where many displaced Palestinians reside.
However, the administration has not halted other weapons deliveries and dismissed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s complaints in June that the US was delaying shipments.
The Gaza war initiated on October 7, when Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel, resulting in the deaths of 1,198 people, predominantly civilians, as per an AFP tally of Israeli official figures. Militants also captured 251 individuals, with 111 still held captive in Gaza, including 39 whom the military reports are deceased.
Israel’s military response in Gaza has led to at least 39,929 deaths, according to the territory’s health ministry, though the statistics do not specify the number of civilians versus militants killed.
In a recent address to Congress, which was boycotted by numerous Democrats, Netanyahu urged the US to expedite military aid, arguing that it would “dramatically expedite an end to the war in Gaza.”
In a notification to Congress, the state department announced the approval of a sale consisting of 50 F-15 fighter jets to Israel for $18.82 billion.Along with the jets, Israel will purchase nearly 33,000 tank cartridges, up to 50,000 explosive mortar cartridges, and new military cargo vehicles. The F-15 jets, equipped with advanced radar and secure communications gear, will significantly upgrade Israel’s existing fleet when they begin arriving in 2029.
“The United States is committed to the security of Israel, and it is vital to US national interests to assist Israel to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defence capability,” the state department stated in its notice on the F-15s, which Boeing produces.
Regarding the tank cartridges, the United States emphasised that the sale “will improve Israel’s capability to meet current and future enemy threats, strengthen its homeland defence, and serve as a deterrent to regional threats.”
Congress retains the authority to block weapons sales, but doing so is challenging. Human rights groups and some progressive members of Biden’s Democratic Party have urged the administration to halt arms sales to Israel, condemning the high number of civilian casualties in the Gaza conflict. Josh Paul, who resigned from the state department last year over Gaza policy, criticised Israel’s actions.
“Authorizing billions of dollars in new arms transfers effectively provides Israel a carte blanche to continue its atrocities in Gaza and to escalate the conflict to Lebanon,” said Paul, who now works at the Middle East rights group, Dawn.
Recently, rescuers in Gaza, controlled by Hamas, reported that 93 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a school housing displaced Palestinians. Israel claimed it was targeting militants at the school. While Biden administration officials expressed concern over civilian deaths, they did not comment on whether US-supplied weapons were used in the strike.
Earlier in May, Biden paused a shipment to Israel that included 2,000-pound bombs and cautioned against a large-scale assault on Rafah in southern Gaza, where many displaced Palestinians reside.
However, the administration has not halted other weapons deliveries and dismissed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s complaints in June that the US was delaying shipments.
The Gaza war initiated on October 7, when Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel, resulting in the deaths of 1,198 people, predominantly civilians, as per an AFP tally of Israeli official figures. Militants also captured 251 individuals, with 111 still held captive in Gaza, including 39 whom the military reports are deceased.
Israel’s military response in Gaza has led to at least 39,929 deaths, according to the territory’s health ministry, though the statistics do not specify the number of civilians versus militants killed.
In a recent address to Congress, which was boycotted by numerous Democrats, Netanyahu urged the US to expedite military aid, arguing that it would “dramatically expedite an end to the war in Gaza.”