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The Washington Post revealed that the United States of America has approved more than 100 arms sales deals to Israel and handed them over to it since the beginning of its devastating war on the Gaza Strip on October 7 last year.
The American newspaper confirmed that the sales included thousands of guided munitions, bunker-busting missiles, and other lethal aid.
The newspaper also pointed out that only two military sales to Israel have been announced since the beginning of the war on October 7th.
The Washington Post quoted American officials and lawmakers as saying that arms sales and transfers were dealt with by executive orders by the US administration without public discussion.
They added that President Joe Biden's administration approved small, fragmented sales within the permissible financial ceiling that does not require congressional approval.
The newspaper also reported that US administration officials recently provided a secret briefing to members of Congress about undeclared arms sales to Israel.
Washington is committed to Israel's security, and this has been clearly demonstrated in full military support since the Al-Aqsa Flood operation on October 7th and the subsequent devastating Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, supported by massive security aid to Israel, including a 10-year memorandum of understanding worth $38 billion. (3.8 billion annually), which was concluded in 2016. In line with that memorandum of understanding, Washington provides $3.3 billion annually in the form of military financing and an additional $500 million in missile defense financing.
Missile defense funding supports several cooperative missile defense programs, and since 2022, Washington has been providing an additional $1 billion in supplemental funding to replenish Israel's stockpile of Iron Dome interceptor missiles.
As of 2020, the United States has provided Israel with $146 billion in military aid (excluding inflation, according to Congressional Research Service data), and some experts estimate the total value of aid after adjusting for inflation to reach $236 billion.
Israel is the largest recipient of US foreign aid since World War II, and according to official US indicators, the total aid provided by the United States to Israel between 1946 and 2023 amounted to about 158.6 billion dollars.
According to data from the US Agency for International Development, the volume of aid is much larger than what was stated in official estimates, as the total US aid committed to Israel in the same period reached about 260 billion dollars.
Most of the American aid to Israel goes to the military sector. The volume of American military aid to Israel between 1946 and 2023, according to official American estimates, amounted to about $114.4 billion, in addition to about $9.9 billion for missile defense.
Source: Al Jazeera + The Washington Post