UK Edition
Biden considers $1bn arms package for Israel
Weapons would include tank ammunition and mortar rounds as tensions in Middle East soar, say reports
Joe Biden is weighing up a $1 billion (£890 million) arms package for Israel including tank ammunition and mortar rounds.
It would mark one of the United States’ largest military transfers to Israel since it moved into Gaza after Hamas massacred hundreds of its civilians in the Oct 7 attack, The Wall Street Journal reports.
It would also be the first package since Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles against Israel on April 13. Most of the projectiles were intercepted by Israel and its allies, but an air base sustained minor damage in the process.
Israel responded on Thursday night, reportedly attacking an air defence radar site near the Iranian city of Isfahan. Tehran said it has no immediate plans of retaliating.
The package under consideration includes $700 million in 120mm tank ammunition, $500 million in tactical vehicles and about $100 million in 120mm mortar rounds, according to US officials.
It would mark a rare example of a new weapons deal with Israel, meaning it would require the support of congressional leaders and could take months or even years for the first shipments to arrive.
Most arms packages sent over to Israel have drawn on $23 billion of weapons transfers that was previously approved by Congress.
The issue is a politically fraught one for Mr Biden, who has been labelled “Genocide Joe” by pro-Palestinian protesters and faces discontent from his own party as the war in Gaza approaches its sixth month.
About 33,000 people have died in the conflict so far – a fact the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have attributed to Hamas embedding itself in civilian infrastructure.
The proposal would probably face resistance from Democrats in Congress, who have raised concerns about sending over weapons as the civilian death toll mounts and urged Mr Biden to cut back on transfers.
The news comes despite Mr Biden’s relationship with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, being reported to have deteriorated as the war drags on.
He signalled to Mr Netanyahu early in April that he could seek to make US aid to Israel conditional if it did not improve conditions in Gaza, after seven aid workers were killed in an Israeli air strike.
The US has delivered thousands of bombs, tank and and artillery ammunition, precision weapons and air-defence equipment since the war began.
On the same day that the aid workers – who included three British citizens – were killed, the State Department reportedly approved the transfer of more than two thousand bombs to Israel.
Separately, the House of Representatives is set to vote this weekend on a bill that would unlock $26.4 billion in aid for Israel to “defend itself against Iran and its proxies”. Among its provisions are billions of dollars to resupply its Iron Dome air defence system.
Mike Johnson, the House Speaker, announced that a series of foreign aid bills for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan would be brought to the floor following the Iranian attack on April 13.
The House voted 316-94 to advance the bills and set up a vote on Saturday, with Democrats lending their support to push the prospective legislation out of the committee stage.
On Friday, the US imposed a further round of sanctions amid frustration with the escalating violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Ben-Zion Gopstein, an ally of Israel’s security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and two organisations fundraising to support settlers accused of violence have had their US assets frozen.
Violence between settlers and Palestinians in the West Bank has increased since Hamas’s terror attack on Oct 7, when the group killed 1,200 people and took 250 people hostage.
More than 400 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed by Israeli forces in the last six months, while a further nine have been killed by settlers, according to the UN.