The State Department has informally notified Congress of a planned $8 billion arms sale to support Israel’s long-term security by providing critical munitions stockpiles and air defense capabilities, it confirmed a US official familiar with the details told CBS News on Saturday.
President Biden has made it clear that Israel has the right to defend its citizens as the American ally advances its war against Hamas in Gaza.
Some of the weapons in the package could be shipped through current U.S. stockpiles, but most would take a year to several years to be delivered, the U.S. official said.
OMAR AL-QATTAA/AFP via Getty Images
The sale includes medium-range air-to-air missiles to help Israel defend against airborne threats, 155mm artillery shells for long-range targets, Hellfire AGM-114 missiles, 500-pound bombs and more.
News of the arms sale was first reported by Axios.
The weapons package would add a record at least $17.9 billion in military aid that the US has provided Israel since Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023 launched the war.
The Biden administration has faced criticism over the growing death toll of Palestinian civilians. There have been demonstrations on university campuses and unsuccessful efforts in Congress by Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders and some Democrats to block the sale of offensive weapons to Israel.
The United States stopped a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel in May over concerns about civilian casualties if the bombs were used during an assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah. The Biden administration has demanded that Israel increase humanitarian aid to the enclave. But in November, citing some limited progress, he refused to limit arms transfers as he had threatened to do if the situation did not improve.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AP
In recent days, Israel has been carrying out airstrikes in Gaza which have killed dozens of people, adding to the tens of thousands of deaths since the war began more than a year ago.
The Israeli military said on Friday it had struck dozens of Hamas assembly points and command centers across Gaza. The Israeli military says it only targets militants and blames Hamas for the civilian deaths because its fighters operate in dense residential areas.
The war has caused widespread destruction and displaced around 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, many of them multiple times. Now winter has arrivedand hundreds of thousands take refuge in tents near the sea.
Informal notice to Congress is not the final notification before a sale. Leaders of the House Foreign Affairs Committee or the Senate Foreign Relations Committee can now review the package.
contributed to this report.