The Biden administration has told key lawmakers it would send more than $1 billion in additional arms and ammunition to Israel, three congressional aides said Tuesday. But it was not immediately known how soon the weapons would be delivered.
It's the first arms shipment to Israel to be revealed since the administration put another arms transfer, consisting of 3,500 bombs of up to 2,000 pounds each, on hold this month. The Biden administration, citing concern for civilian casualties in Gaza, has said it paused that bomb transfer to keep Israel from using those particular munitions in its offensive in the crowded southern Gaza city of Rafah.
The package includes about $700 million for tank ammunition, $500 million in tactical vehicles, and $60 million in mortar rounds, the congressional aides said. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an arms transfer that has not yet been made public.
There was no immediate indication of when the arms would be sent. Two congressional aides said the shipment is not part of the long-delayed foreign aid package that Congress passed and President Joe Biden signed last month. It wasn't known if the shipment was the latest tranche from an existing arms sale or something new.
Republican lawmakers have seized on the administration's pause on the bomb transfers, saying any lessening of US support for Israel — its closest ally in the Middle East — weakens that country as it fights the Hamas terror organization and other Iran-backed groups. In the House, they are planning to advance a bill this week to mandate the delivery of offensive weaponry for Israel.
Despite the one-time suspension of a bomb shipment, Biden and administration officials have made clear they will continue other weapons deliveries and overall military support to Israel.
Biden will see to it that "Israel has all of the military means it needs to defend itself against all of its enemies, including Hamas," national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters Monday. "For him, this is very straightforward: He's going to continue to provide Israel with all of the capabilities it needs, but he does not want certain categories of American weapons used in a particular type of operation in a particular place. And again, he has been clear and consistent with that."
The Wall Street Journal first reported the plans for the $1 billion weapons package to Israel.
