US approves $20 billion weapons package for Israel

[Pelican Press 0]

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US approves $20 billion weapons package for *******

US President Joe Biden’s administration on Tuesday approved more than $20 billion in new weapons sales to *******, brushing aside pressure from rights activists to stop arms deliveries over the ****** toll in Gaza.

The ***** comes as Biden has pressed ******* and ****** to reach a ceasefire after 10 months of bloodshed, although the weapons would take years to reach *******.

In a notification to Congress, the State Department said it had approved a ***** of 50 F-15 fighter jets to ******* for $18.82 billion.

******* will also buy nearly 33,000 tank cartridges, up to 50,000 explosive mortar cartridges and new military cargo vehicles.

The F-15 aircraft, which will begin to be delivered in 2029, will upgrade *******’s current fleet and include radar and secure communications equipment.

“The ******* States is committed to the security of *******, and it is vital to US national interests to assist ******* to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defense capability,” the State Department said in its notice on the F-15s, which are made by Boeing.

On the tank cartridges, the ******* States said the ***** “will improve *******’s capability to meet current and future ****** threats, strengthen its homeland defense and serve as a deterrent to regional threats.”

The US Congress can block weapons sales, but such a process is difficult.

Human rights groups and some left-leaning members of Biden’s Democratic Party have urged the administration to curb or stop weapons sales to *******, voicing revulsion at civilian casualties in the Gaza conflict.

Josh Paul, who resigned from the State Department last year in protest at policy on Gaza, said ******* had given the ******* States no reason to believe it is moving away from “abject brutality.”

“Authorizing billions of dollars in new arms transfers effectively provides ******* a carte blanche to continue its atrocities in Gaza and to escalate the conflict to Lebanon,” said Paul, now at the Middle East rights group Dawn.

On Saturday, rescuers in the ******-run territory of Gaza said that 93 people were ******* in an ******** air strike at a school housing displaced Palestinians.

******* said it was targeting militants operating out of the school. Biden administration officials voiced concern over civilian deaths and declined comment on whether US weapons were used.

In May, Biden froze a shipment to ******* that included 2,000-pound ****** as he warned against a mass-scale ******** on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where vast numbers of displaced Palestinians were living.

But the administration said it has not stopped other weapons and dismissed complaints in June by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the ******* States was slowing down deliveries.

The Gaza war began with ******’s October 7 ******* on southern ******* which resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of ******** official figures.

Militants also seized 251 people, 111 of whom are still held captive in Gaza, including 39 the military says are *****.

*******’s retaliatory military offensive in Gaza has ******* at least 39,929 people, according to a toll from the territory’s health ministry, which does not provide a breakdown of civilian and militant deaths.

In a speech to Congress last month boycotted by many Democrats, Netanyahu called on the ******* States to fast-track military aid, saying it would “dramatically expedite an end to the war in Gaza.”

sct/aha

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