The Joe Biden administration has provisionally approved an $8 billion arms sale to Israel in a last-minute demonstration of support for the U.S. president’s close ally after more than a year of war in Gaza.<\/p>\n
The U.S. State Department announced the sale to Congress late on Friday through an informal notification, according to Financial Times (FT)<\/em> sources. This step precedes a public announcement and requires approval from the Senate and House Foreign Affairs Committees before implementation.<\/p>\n The arms package includes $6.75 billion worth of precision-guided missiles and small bombs, $300 million worth of 155 mm artillery shells, $600 million worth of Hellfire missiles, and $300 million worth of Amraam air-to-air missiles, according to one source familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n Another source indicated that while some of the weapons would come directly from U.S. stockpiles, most deliveries would take a year or longer.<\/p>\n Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu frequently accuses the United States of delaying arms and ammunition deliveries\u2014claims the Biden administration denies.<\/p>\n In November, Netanyahu stated that he had agreed to a ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon to allow Israeli forces to replenish their stockpiles. Around the same time, the Biden administration informally notified Congress of its intention to supply Israel with $680 million worth of precision weapons. This notification followed an unsuccessful attempt by some Democrats in Congress to block a $20 billion arms sale to Israel last summer.<\/p>\n In April, Congress approved an additional $26 billion in war aid to Israel, supplementing the $3.8 billion in annual U.S. security assistance to the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Joe Biden administration has provisionally approved an $8 billion arms sale to Israel in a last-minute demonstration of support for the U.S. president’s close ally after more than a year of war in Gaza. The U.S. State Department announced the sale to Congress late on Friday through an informal notification, according to Financial Times […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7096,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4567,4566,4574,4573,4570,4572,4568,4569,4571,3607],"class_list":["post-7095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middleeast","tag-8-billion-arms-deal","tag-biden-arms-sale-to-israel","tag-gaza-war-aid","tag-hezbollah-ceasefire","tag-israel-security-assistance","tag-netanyahu-arms-accusations","tag-precision-guided-missiles","tag-u-s-arms-exports","tag-u-s-foreign-policy","tag-u-s-israel-relations"],"yoast_head":"\n