The State Department announces plans for more than $ 7 billion in arms sales in Israel

Washington (AP) – The State Department officially told Congress that it planned to sell more than $ 7 billion in weapons to Israel, including thousands of bombs and missiles, just two days after President Donald Trump met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the White House.

The massive sale of weapons is a fragile cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas, even if Trump continues to praise his widely criticized proposal to move all Palestinians from Gaza and redevelop him as a destination for international travel .

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Sales is another step in Trump’s efforts to strengthen Israel’s weapons stocks. At the end of January, shortly after his successful entry into office, he lifted the taking on sending 2,000 pound bombs to Israel. The Biden administration had interrupted an expedition of bombs concerning the concerns concerning civilian victims, in particular during an assault against the southern city of Gaza in Rafah.

Trump told journalists that he had released them to Israel “because they had bought them.”

According to the State Department, two separate sales were sent to Congress on Friday. One depends on $ 6.75 billion in a range of ammunition, orientation kits and other related equipment. It includes 166 small diameter bombs, 2,800 bombs of 500 pounds and thousands of orientation kits, fuses and other bomb components and support equipment. These deliveries would start this year.

The other set of weapons is 3,000 Hellfire missiles and related equipment at an estimated cost of $ 660 million. Missile deliveries should start in 2028 and their use will require additional training by the US military.

Officials of the Biden administration informed informally of the sale of the sale last month. Officials of the time said that some of the packages of the package could be sent from current American actions, but the majority would take a year or more years to deliver.

The best democrat of the Chamber’s foreign affairs committee had raised concerns about the sale in January.

“We are continuing the commitment with the administration on a number of questions and concerns,” a spokesman for representative Gregory Meeks told the Associated Press earlier this week. It is not clear if these problems were resolved when the Trump administration provided an official notification on Friday.

It is standard that the State Department first informs the four main legislators of foreign relations committees in the Chamber and the Senate if the price exceeds a certain amount before providing the Congress with an official notice. If Meeks or one of the three other legislators of the committees concerned were to oppose a sale, traditionally, the State Department would become an official opinion again until the problems raised by the member are resolved.

The announcement arrives at a particularly sensitive moment, but underlines Trump’s solid support to Israel. He and Netanyahu had talks on Tuesday at the White House, where the two leaders discussed the fragile cease-fire and hostage in the Israeli-Hamas conflict and shared concerns about Iran.

The allies expressed their opposition to the Trump Gaza resettlement plan and expressed concerns that he could compromise the cease-fire agreement.

But Trump insisted on Friday that it was a simple “real estate transaction”, and that the United States is “without concern to do anything”. He suggested that the resettlement of Gaza residents could be permanent – something that even the best members of his own administration have refuted.

Hamas has identified three other Israeli hostages which it plans to release within the framework of the ceasefire agreement.

The three men, captured by Hamas during its October 7, 2023, attack southern Israel, should be released on Saturday, in the fifth exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.

Israeli forces have withdrawn from most Gaza, as specified by the ceasefire agreement, but remain in border areas.

The writer Associated Press Farnoush Amiri contributed to this report.