US Moving Forward With $1 Weapons Deal for Israel
“We are continuing to send military assistance, and we will ensure that Israel receives the full amount provided in the supplemental,” Jake Sullivan said on Monday
Photo: IDF website
The US administration notified Congress that it is moving forward with a $1 billion new weapons deal for Israel, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday (Tuesday). This, just days after President Biden paused a bomb shipment amid concerns over Israel’s operation in Rafah, and threatened to halt more weapon deliveries.
The Wall Street Journal reports that this package includes the potential transfer of $700 million in tank ammunition, $500 million in tactical vehicles, and $60 million in mortar rounds.
“This is a war between the state of Israel and the terrorist group Hamas, whose mission is to annihilate Israel and kill as many Jews as they can. The war began on October 7th when Hamas massacred 1,200 people and took more than 200 hostages,” US National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, said during a press briefing on Monday following his return from the Middle East.
Sullivan added that the Palestinian civilians caught in the middle are “in hell,” noting that “The death and trauma they’ve endured are unimaginable. Their pain and suffering are immense. No civilian should have to go through that.”
Yet, he says, “Israel has an unusual, even unprecedented burden in fighting this war because Hamas uses hospitals and schools and other civilian facilities for military purposes and has built a vast network of military tunnels under civilian areas. That puts innocent civilians in the crossfire.
“It does not lessen Israel’s responsibility to do all it can to protect innocent civilians. We believe Israel can and must do more to ensure the protection and well-being of innocent civilians. We do not believe what is happening in Gaza is a genocide. We have been firmly on record rejecting that proposition.”
״We are continuing to send military assistance, and we will ensure that Israel receives the full amount provided in the supplemental. We have paused a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs because we do not believe they should be dropped in densely populated cities. We are talking to the Israeli government about this,” he said.