The US State Department has approved a $7.41 billion arms sale to Israel, including bombs, missiles, and related equipment.
The US State Department has approved a potential $7.41 billion military sale to Israel of bombs, missiles and related equipment.
The sale included “munitions, guidance kits, fuzes, and munitions support, along with related equipment, for an estimated cost of $6.75 billion,” the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said in a statement on Friday. This is in addition to the approval of a possible sale of AGM-114 Hellfire Missiles and related equipment for an estimated cost of $660 million.
The Trump admin just approved arms sales to Israel valued at approximately $7.4 billion pic.twitter.com/JSJF4AEqAD
— Rabia İclal Turan (@iclalturan) February 7, 2025
“The United States is committed to the security of Israel, and it is vital to U.S. national interests to assist Israel to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defense capability. This proposed sale is consistent with those objectives,” the statement added.
Congress Notified
Deliveries were estimated to begin in 2025, it noted. The delivery of 3,000 Hellfire Air-to-Ground Missiles will begin in 2028.
“The proposed sale improves Israel’s capability to meet current and future threats, strengthen its homeland defense, and serves as a deterrent to regional threats,” the DSCA stated.
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It added that Israel already has these weapons in its inventory “and will have no difficulty absorbing this equipment into its armed forces.”
The agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of these possible sales on Friday.
Previous Hold on Supply
The announcement came amid Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington DC where he met with President Donald Trump to discuss bilateral ties and the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
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Last month, Trump announced that he lifted a hold imposed by the former Biden administration on supplying bombs to Israel, the Anadolu news agency reported.
In May last year, then-President Joe Biden paused the delivery of a weapons shipment that included 2,000-pound bombs that Israel had used to destroy wide swathes of Gaza.
Biden made the decision due to concerns over the possible use of the bombs in a heavily populated area.
Staggering Death Toll
More than 47,500 Palestinians have been killed and over 100,00 injured in Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza that began in October 2023.
A ceasefire agreement, to be implemented in three phases, took effect in Gaza on January 19 and brought the onslaught to a halt.
Under the first phase – lasting six weeks – 33 Israeli prisoners held in Gaza were to be released in exchange for 737 Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel.
The second phase is expected to facilitate the release of the remaining Israeli detainees, while the third and final stage will focus on Gaza’s reconstruction and the return of the remains of Israeli captives who died in custody.
(PC, Anadolu)
