The administration of US President Joe Biden has notified the US Congress of a planned US$8 billion arms sale to Israel, a source familiar with the plan said on Saturday.
The US State Department “has informally notified Congress of an US$8 billion proposed sale of munitions to support Israel’s long-term security by resupplying stocks of critical munitions and air defense capabilities,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The preliminary notification gives congressional committees an opportunity to scrutinize the proposed sale, ahead of a formal notification to Congress.
Photo: AFP
The weapons package includes medium-range air-to-air missiles to defend against aerial threats, Hellfire AGM-114 missiles, 155mm projectile artillery shells for long-range targeting, and 500-pound warheads, the official said.
The Biden administration has provided Israel with billions in arms aid since Israeli forces launched a massive attack on Hamas militants in Gaza in response to their deadly surprise attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The outgoing US president has repeatedly vowed “ironclad” support for Israel.
However, against the backdrop of a rising Palestinian death toll — now more than 45,700, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza — and the increasingly dire conditions facing civilians, the US support has become a sensitive political issue.
UN officials say as many as 70 percent of those killed in the Gaza hostilities have been women or children, and aid agencies have described harrowing conditions facing civilians.
The Biden administration has urged Israel to increase humanitarian aid, but after threatening to curb arms shipments if the aid situation did not improve, it declined in November to do so.
Meanwhile, the armed wing of Hamas, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, released a video on Saturday of an Israeli hostage held in Gaza since its attack.
In the undated, three-and-a-half-minute video recording that Agence France-Presse has not been able to verify, 19-year-old soldier Liri Albag called in Hebrew for the Israeli government to secure her release.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a campaign group for relatives of those abducted, said Albag’s family has not authorized publication of the video.
“We appeal to the prime minister, world leaders and all decision-makers: It’s time to take decisions as if it were your own children there,” the family said in a statement.
Albag was 18 when she was captured by Palestinian militants at the Nahal Oz base on the Gaza border along with six other female conscripts, five of whom remain in captivity.
Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad have released a number of videos of Israeli hostages in their custody during nearly 15 months of fighting in Gaza.
The militants seized 251 hostages during the 2023 attack, of whom 96 remain in Gaza. The Israeli military says 34 of those are dead.
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