US approves possible $7.41B foreign military sales to Israel

WASHINGTON

The US State Department approved a potential $7.41 billion foreign military sales to Israel, the Pentagon announced on Friday.

The department okayed a sale of "munitions, guidance kits, fuzes, and munitions support, along with related equipment, for an estimated cost of $6.75 billion," the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a statement.

Separately, the department made a determination approving a possible sale of "AGM-114 Hellfire missiles and related equipment for an estimated cost of $660 million".

The agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of these possible sales on Friday.

"The United States is committed to the security of Israel, and it is vital to U.S. national interests to assist Israel to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defense capability," it added.

The announcement came amid Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to the US capital Washington DC where he met with President Donald Trump to discuss bilateral ties and the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.

Last month, Trump announced that he lifted a hold imposed by the former Biden administration on supplying bombs to Israel.

Last May, then-President Joe Biden paused the delivery of a weapons shipment that included 2,000-pound bombs that Israel had used to flatten wide swathes of Gaza.

Biden made the decision due to concerns over the possible use of the bombs in a heavily populated area.

The US has long been criticized for providing support to Israel in its war in Gaza, where more than 47,000 people, mostly women and children, have been killed since Oct. 7, 2023.

Several American lawmakers, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, frequently make calls for the US government to stop supplying weapons to Israel and being complicit in Israel's war in Gaza.