Washington (TDI): The State Department has formally told Congress that it plans to sell over $7 billion in weapons to Israel, including thousands of bombs and missiles, just two days after President Donald Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.
The major arms sale coincide with a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, while Trump continues promoting his widely criticized plan to relocate all Palestinians from Gaza and transform it to a global travel hub.
The sale is another step in President Trump’s effort to bolster Israel’s weapons stocks.
In late January, soon after Trump entered the White House, he lifted the hold on sending 2,000-pound bombs to Israel.
The Biden administration had paused a shipment of the bombs over concerns about civilian casualties, especially during an assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
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Trump told media that he released the weapons to Israel, “because they paid for them.”
The State Department said that two separate sales were sent to Congress on Friday.
One package includes $6.75 billion worth of munitions, guidance kits and related equipment.
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It includes 2,800 500-pound bombs, 166 small diameter bombs, and thousands of guidance kits, fuzes and other bomb components and support equipment.
Those deliveries would begin this year.
The other arms package is for 3,000 Hellfire missiles and related equipment for an estimated cost of $660 million.
Deliveries of the missiles are likely to begin in 2028.
