US Secretly Approves Bombs and War Financing for Israel | AlMomento.net
In recent days, US President Joe Biden’s administration has secretly authorized a new military aid package for Israel and in the extreme southern Gaza Strip, despite Washington’s public reservations about the Israeli armed forces’ intention to attack the Rafah region.
The aid package includes 1,800 900-kilogram MK84 bombs and 500 225-kilogram MK82 bombs, according to Department of Defense and State Department sources cited by The Washington Post newspaper, indicating that the package is covered. Aid that had previously been approved, therefore, did not require authorization from Congress to be requested.
The package is added to a $2.5 billion package approved last week that included the delivery of engines and 25 F-35A fighters under a proposal Congress approved in 2008, so it was not required. No new authorization. .
MK84 bombs have been directly linked to some of the worst civilian casualties of the Israeli military offensive on the Gaza Strip.
In fact, these types of bombs, which can destroy entire buildings and leave craters more than twelve meters in diameter and deep, are never used by Western armies in densely populated areas because of the high risk of civilian casualties. However, Israel has used it extensively in the Gaza Strip, resulting in a bombardment of the Jabalia refugee camp on October 31 that killed more than 100 people, according to UN estimates.
A State Department official indicated that it is “contingent on the fulfillment of a notification authorization to Congress that could result in dozens of foreign military sales over the decades it is in effect.”
At least 32,705 people have been killed and 75,190 injured in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, as a result of Israeli army attacks on the Palestinian enclave. The offensive is in response to a Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. October, which resulted in 1,200 deaths.