Trump administration plans to send powerful bombs to Israel in USD 2.8 billion weapons sale

The Trump administration is planning to deliver powerful 2000pound bombs to Israel as part of an upcoming arms deal weapons that prompted such concerns about the possibility of mass casualties in Gaza that the Biden administration paused their delivery two years agoThe USD 28 billion package includes 40000 of the bombs made up of 20000 Mk84s and 20000 BLU117s according to two US officials and a person familiar with the plan who spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity to discuss the package which is not yet finalCongress has been informally notified about the pending deal most of which is to be paid for with foreign military financing in which US taxpayer dollars are given to Israel to turn around and buy the weapons from the United StatesThe proposed sale is just the latest in a series of Trump administration steps to improve Israelis military capacity The conflict in Gaza has left tens of thousands of Palestinians dead and has decimated the enclave The US brokered a fragile ceasefire but violence has continuedThe package which was reported earlier by The Washington Post comes as Israel has faced increasing international isolation over its war in Gaza in response to the deadly October 7 2023 attacks by HamasThe sale signals that some strains in the relationship between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu especially since the two countries launched the war against Iran in February are not impeding the closeness of the USIsraeli alliance Trump has had a hotandcold history with Netanyahu over the years and expressed some frustration with Netanyahu tied to the Iran conflict before their latest meeting in July at the White HouseIn 2024 the Biden administration held off on one shipment of the bombs but Trump lifted that hold when he took office againLast year the Trump administration bypassed a normal congressional review process and approved a nearly USD 3 billion sale to Israel that included more than 35500 of the bombs The administration then approved a new series of arms sales to Israel totaling USD667 billion in JanuaryThe 2000pound bombs have multiple variants with some designed to penetrate deep underground targets while others detonate above ground and cause widespread damageThough the Israeli military has offered few details about what bombs and artillery it has used in Gaza experts analyzing strike footage and blast fragments found onsite believe the USmade bombs have been used there targeting a tunnel network used by Hamas but also killing of people in densely populated areasWhile the heaviest fighting in Gaza has subsided since the fragile ceasefire took hold in October Israel has continued to carry out strikes in the territory including some overnight and into Tuesday that killed several people That is even after Jared Kushner Trumps soninlaw and a key Mideast negotiator met with Netanyahu last month in an effort to push the ceasefire deal forward and asked Israel to reduce its attacksMilitants have carried out shooting attacks on Israeli troops and Israel says its strikes are in response to those and other ceasefire violationsThe Hamasled attack on southern Israel in 2023 killed around 1200 people and saw 251 taken hostage Israels offensive in Gaza to retaliate has killed more than 73264 Palestinians including those killed since the ceasefire Gazas Health Ministry saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever