WASHINGTON: The Biden administration has sent to Israel large numbers of munitions, including more than 10,000 highly destructive 2,000-pound bombs and thousands of Hellfire missiles, since the start of the war in Gaza, said two US officials briefed on an updated list of weapons shipments.
Between the war’s start last October and recent days, the United States has transferred at least 14,000 of the MK-84 2,000-pound bombs, 6,500 500-pound bombs, 3,000 Hellfire precision-guided air-to-ground missiles, 1,000 bunker-buster bombs, 2,600 air-dropped small-diameter bombs, and other munitions, according to the officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly.
While the officials didn’t give a timeline for the shipments, the totals suggest there has been no significant drop-off in US military support for its ally, despite international calls to limit weapons supplies and a recent administration decision to pause a shipment of powerful bombs.
Experts said the contents of the shipments appear consistent with what Israel would need to replenish supplies used in this eight-month intense military campaign in Gaza, which it launched after the Oct. 7 attack by Palestinian Hamas militants who killed 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
“While these numbers could be expended relatively quickly in a major conflict, this list clearly reflects a substantial level of support from the United States for our Israeli allies,” said Tom Karako, a weapons expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, adding that the listed munitions were the type Israel would use in its fight against Hamas or in a potential conflict with Hezbollah.
The delivery numbers, which have not been previously reported, provide the most up-to-date and extensive tally of munitions shipped to Israel since the Gaza war began.
Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have been trading fire since the start of the Gaza war, and concern is rising that an all-out war could break out between the two sides.
The White House declined to comment. Israel’s Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The shipments are part of a bigger list of weapons sent to Israel since the Gaza conflict began, one of the US officials said. A senior Biden administration official on Wednesday told reporters that Washington has since Oct. 7 sent $6.5 billion worth of weapons to Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent weeks claimed that Washington was withholding weapons, a suggestion US officials have repeatedly denied even though they acknowledged some “bottlenecks.”
The Biden administration has paused one shipment of the 2,000-pound bomb, citing concern over the impact it could have in densely populated areas in Gaza, but US officials insist that all other arms deliveries continue as normal. One 2,000-pound bomb can rip through thick concrete and metal, creating a wide blast radius.
Reuters reported on Thursday that the United States is discussing with Israel the release of a shipment of large bombs that was suspended in May over worries about the military operation in Rafah.
International scrutiny of Israel’s military operation in Gaza has intensified as the Palestinian death toll from the war has exceeded 37,000, according to the Gaza health ministry, and has left the coastal enclave in ruins.
Washington gives $3.8 billion in annual military assistance to its longtime ally. While Biden has warned that he would place conditions on military aid if Israel fails to protect civilians and allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza, he has not done so beyond delaying the May shipment.
Biden’s support for Israel in its war against Hamas has emerged as a political liability, particularly among young Democrats, as he runs for re-election this year. It fueled a wave of “uncommitted” protest votes in primaries and has driven pro-Palestinian protests at US universities.
While the United States provides detailed descriptions and quantities of military aid sent to Ukraine as it fights a full-scale invasion of Russia, the administration has revealed few details about the full extent of US weapons and munitions sent to Israel.
The shipments are also hard to track because some of the weapons are shipped as part of arms sales approved by Congress years ago but only now being fulfilled.
One of the US officials said the Pentagon has sufficient quantities of weapons in its own stocks and had been liaising with US industry partners who make the weapons, such as Boeing Co. and General Dynamics, as the companies work to manufacture more.
US has sent Israel thousands of 2,000-pound bombs since Oct. 7
https://arab.news/8t6zw
US has sent Israel thousands of 2,000-pound bombs since Oct. 7
- Totals suggest there has been no significant drop-off in US military support for its ally
- Shipments appear consistent with what Israel would need to replenish supplies used for intense military campaign in Gaza
Lebanon to propose Hezbollah disarmament plan on August 31, US envoy says
Speaking after talks with President Joseph Aoun in Beirut, Barrack said the Lebanese proposal would not involve military coercion but would focus on efforts to encourage Hezbollah to surrender its weapons — including addressing the economic impact on fighters funded by Iran.
“The Lebanese army and government are not talking about going to war. They are talking about how to convince Hezbollah to give up those arms,” Barrack said.
A move this month by the Lebanese cabinet to task the army with drawing up a plan to establish a state monopoly on arms has outraged heavily armed Hezbollah, which says such calls only serve Israel.
Israel signalled on Monday it would scale back its military presence in southern Lebanon if Lebanon’s armed forces took action to disarm the Iran-backed Shiite militant group.
Barrack, who met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, described that development as “historic.”
“What Israel has now said is: we don’t want to occupy Lebanon. We’re happy to withdraw from Lebanon, and we will meet those withdrawal expectations with our plan as soon as we see what is the plan to actually disarm Hezbollah,” he said.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, after meeting the US delegation, said Lebanon had embarked on an irreversible path to place all weapons under state control, with the army due to present a comprehensive plan by next week.
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem, in a recorded speech aired on Monday, criticized the government’s decision to disarm the group and urged officials to reverse it, saying pulling back “would be a virtue.”
While no formal proposals have been exchanged, Barrack said verbal commitments from both sides suggested a narrowing path toward implementation.
Economic consideration
Hezbollah was significantly weakened in last year’s war with Israel, which killed many of its top commanders and fighters. A US-brokered ceasefire ending the conflict obliges the Lebanese state to disarm all non-state armed groups.
Israel, meanwhile, has held on to positions inside Lebanon and its military has continued to carry out periodic air strikes it says target Hezbollah militants and weapons.
Qassem rejected a step-by-step framework under which an Israeli withdrawal and Hezbollah disarmament would proceed in parallel.
Qassem said Hezbollah would not discuss a national defense strategy until Israel fully implemented the ceasefire agreement signed on November 27.
“Let them implement the (ceasefire) agreement ... then after that we will discuss the defense strategy,” Qassem said.
Barrack stressed that any disarmament initiative must address the economic impact on tens of thousands of Hezbollah fighters and their families, many of whom rely on Iranian funding.
“If we’re asking a portion of the Lebanese community to give up their livelihood — because when we say disarm Hezbollah, we’re talking about 40,000 people being paid by Iran — you can’t just take their weapons and say, ‘Good luck, go plant olive trees’. We have to help them.”
He said Gulf states, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia, were prepared to support Lebanon’s economy — particularly in the south, which is Hezbollah’s stronghold — as part of an initiative to provide alternatives to Hezbollah’s payroll system.
Barrack said discussions were under way to build an “economic forum” backed by the Gulf, the US, and Lebanese authorities that would offer sustainable livelihoods “not determined by whether Iran wants it or not.”
Aid to famine-struck Gaza still ‘drop in the ocean’: WFP
- Carl Skau, WFP’s chief operating officer, said there needs to be completely different level of assistance to turn around trajectory of famine
- UN declared famine in Gaza on Friday, blaming 'systematic obstruction' of aid by Israel
NEW DELHI: The World Food Programme warned Tuesday that the aid Israel is allowing to enter Gaza remains a “drop in the ocean,” days after famine was formally declared in the war-torn Palestinian territory.
The United Nations declared a famine in Gaza on Friday, blaming the “systematic obstruction” of aid by Israel during its nearly two-year war with the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Carl Skau, WFP’s chief operating officer, said that over the past two weeks, there has been a “slight uptick” in aid entering, averaging around 100 trucks per day.
“That’s still a drop in the ocean when we’re talking about assisting some 2.1 million people,” Skau told AFP during a visit to New Delhi.
“We need a completely different level of assistance to be able to turn this trajectory of famine around.”
The Rome-based Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Initiative (IPC) said famine was affecting 500,000 people in Gaza.
It defines famine as when 20 percent of households face extreme food shortages, more than 30 percent of children under five are acutely malnourished, and there is an excess mortality threshold of at least two in 10,000 people a day.
Skau painted a grim picture of Gaza.
“The levels of desperation are so high that people keep grabbing the food off our trucks,” the former Swedish diplomat said.
“And when we’re not able to do proper orderly distributions, we’re not sure that we’re reaching the most vulnerable — the women and the children furthest out in the camps,” he said.
“And they’re the ones we really need to reach now, if we want to avoid a full-scale catastrophe.”
But Skau also warned that Gaza was only one of many global crises, with multiple famine zones emerging simultaneously as donor funding collapses.
Some 320 million people globally are now acutely food insecure — nearly triple the figure from five years ago. At the same time, WFP funding has dropped by 40 percent compared with last year.
“Right now, we’re seeing a number of crises that, at any other time in history, would have gotten the headlines and been the top issue discussed,” he said.
That includes Sudan, where 25 million people are “acutely food insecure,” including 10 million in what Skau called “the starvation phase.”
“It’s the largest hunger and humanitarian crisis that we probably have seen in decades — since the end of the 1980s with the Ethiopia famine,” he said.
“We have 10 spots in Sudan where famine has been confirmed. It’s a disaster of unimaginable magnitude.”
He detailed how a UN aid convoy in June tried to break the siege by paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of Sudan’s city of El-Fasher in Darfur, only for the truck convoy to be hit by a deadly drone attack.
Neighbouring South Sudan is also struggling, he said, suggesting “there might well be a third confirmation of a famine.”
“That will be unprecedented,” he said, citing “extremely expensive” operations in the young nation’s Upper Nile state, where, with few roads, aid must be delivered by helicopters or airdrops.
“This is maybe the number one crisis where you have on one hand staggering needs and, frankly, no resources available,” he said.
At the same time, traditional donors have cut aid.
US President Donald Trump slashed foreign aid after taking office, dealing a heavy blow to humanitarian operations worldwide.
“We are in a funding crunch, and the challenge here is that the needs keep going up,” Skau said.
While conflict is the “main driver” of rising hunger levels, other causes include “extreme weather events due to climate change” and the economic shock of trade wars.
“Our worry is that we are now cutting from the hungry to give to the starving,” he said.
Skau said the organization was actively seeking new donors.
“We’re engaging countries like India, Indonesia, Brazil, and others, beyond the more traditional donors, to see how they can also assist.”
Catholic, Greek Orthodox clergy to stay in Gaza City to help weakest
- “Among those who have sought shelter within the walls of the compounds, many are weakened and malnourished due to the hardships” of war: Statement
ROME: Catholic and Greek Orthodox priests and nuns will remain in Gaza City despite Israel’s plan for a military takeover, the religious communities said in a joint statement on Tuesday.
“At the time of this statement, evacuation orders were already in place for several neighborhoods in Gaza City. Reports of heavy bombardment continue to be received,” the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem said.
“We do not know exactly what will happen on the ground, not only for our community, but for the entire population,” they said.
Hundreds of displaced people have sheltered since the outbreak of the war in the Greek Orthodox compound of Saint Porphyrius and the Catholic Holy Family compound, including children and those with special needs.
Stray Israeli fire hit the Holy Family church in July, killing three and wounding 10 others, including the parish priest.
“Among those who have sought shelter within the walls of the compounds, many are weakened and malnourished due to the hardships of the last months,” the statement said.
“Leaving Gaza City and trying to flee to the south would be nothing less than a death sentence.
“For this reason, the clergy and nuns have decided to remain and continue to care for all those who will be in the compounds.”
There are some 645 Catholic and Orthodox Christians left in the Gaza Strip, including five priests and five nuns, the Latin Patriarchate told AFP on Tuesday.
Israel’s cabinet approved in early August a plan for the military to take over Gaza City, despite mounting pressure both at home and abroad to wrap up a war which has created a humanitarian crisis and devastated much of the territory.
The United Nations declared a famine in Gaza on Friday.
The war was sparked by Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 62,744 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.
Senior members of US Congress meet Syrian leader in Damascus
- Bipartisan delegation aims to have sanctions permanently lifted to allow economic recovery
- Sanctions imposed on Assad regime temporarily suspended by Trump earlier this year
LONDON: Two members of Congress visited the Syrian Arab Republic as part of efforts to permanently repeal US sanctions placed on the country during its civil war.
Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Rep. Joe Wilson, a Republican from South Carolina, met with Syria’s transitional president, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, in Damascus on Monday along with other top officials.
They said ending the sanctions placed on the regime of former leader Bashar Assad is crucial to allow the country to recover from years of conflict, and to attract outside investment.
“A Syria that can stand on its own after ridding itself of the Assad regime will be a cornerstone for regional stability in the Middle East,” Shaheen said in a statement. “America is ready to be a partner to a new Syria that moves in the right direction.”
She added: “There is a long way to go, but it’s very positive and the potential is really amazing. The people that we met with were hopeful about the future.”
Wilson told reporters in the US: “I, over the years, have been working with the Syrian-American community, and they’ve always had a dream that one day Damascus would be free, and I believe it has come.”
In May, US President Donald Trump announced a temporary suspension of sanctions placed on Syria for 180 days.
They applied to a raft of measures under the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, which came into force in 2019 affecting the country’s energy, financial and construction industries.
While Trump can extend the pauses on sanctions, new legislation is required to curb them permanently, ending uncertainty about Syria’s economic future.
Shaheen and Wilson intend to do so via the upcoming annual National Defense Authorization Act, adding legislation to the bill that relates to foreign and military policy.
The lifting of sanctions on Syria previously met with some resistance in Congress, with Republican Sen. Jim Risch, chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, saying in February: “Too much (US) engagement too soon could create more security dilemmas, but no or too little engagement could give Russia and Iran the ability to wield substantial influence again and also signal the US has no interest, which would be an incorrect assumption.”
However, in April he wrote a letter with Shaheen, the most senior Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent saying the federal government should “remove barriers to expanded engagement with the Syrian interim government.”
Trump met Al-Sharaa in May in Saudi Arabia, calling him a “fighter” and a “tough guy” with a “very strong past.” Al-Sharaa is expected to address the UN General Assembly in New York next month.
Israel raid wounds 14 in West Bank’s Ramallah: Red Crescent
- Tensions have remained high in the occupied West Bank since Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel which sparked the Gaza war, with repeated raids by the Israeli army on Palestinian population centers, particularly in the north
- The Red Crescent said at least 14 people were wounded in the latest raid; seven were hit by live rounds, while the rest were injured by rubber bullets or tear gas inhalation
RAMALLAH: The Israeli army raided the West Bank city of Ramallah on Tuesday, leaving 14 people wounded as troops fanned out across the city center, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.
Tensions have remained high in the occupied West Bank since Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel which sparked the Gaza war, with repeated raids by the Israeli army on Palestinian population centers, particularly in the north.
The Red Crescent said at least 14 people were wounded in the latest raid. Seven were hit by live rounds, while the rest were injured by rubber bullets or tear-gas inhalation.
It added that Israeli forces were “preventing our teams from reaching the injured in a besieged area.”
An AFP journalist saw soldiers on the ground around Al-Manara Square in the city center and on balconies overlooking it.
The Israeli army confirmed it had launched an operation in the area but did not provide more details.
Although the army has carried out frequent operations in the cities and refugee camps of the northern West Bank, it has done so relatively rarely in Ramallah, headquarters of the Palestinian Authority.
Palestinians were seen throwing stones at troops as they began the operation, which appeared to target currency exchange offices in particular.
Witnesses told AFP that the army withdrew in early afternoon.
Violence in the West Bank has intensified since the October 2023 attack. At least 972 Palestinians — including both militants and civilians — have been killed in the territory by Israeli troops or settlers, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian Authority figures.
In the same period, at least 36 Israelis, both civilians and soldiers, have been killed in attacks or military operations in the territory, according to Israeli figures.
Excluding Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, the West Bank is home to about three million Palestinians and 500,000 Israelis living in settlements that are considered illegal under international law.
