US facilitates Rafah invasion, approves thousands of bombs to 'Israel'

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News Websites
29 Mar 2024 23:46
12 Shares

The United States just approved over 2,000 bombs and 25 fighter jets to "Israel", despite criticism of the Rafah invasion.

US-made Mk-84 bombs with Joint Direct Attack Munition JDAM (US Air Force)

As the United States criticizes the Israeli plan to invade Rafah and warns of subsequent consequences, it has simultaneously approved billions of dollars worth of bombs and fighter jets for the occupation, the Washington Post reported.

The Washington Post, citing Pentagon and State Department officials, revealed that the new military package consists of 1,800 units of MK-84 2,000-pound bombs, 500 of the MK-82 500-pound bombs, and 25 F-35 fighter jets. The latter is part of a previously approved arms package, and this marks the third 25-jet batch, mounting the F-35 fleet size to 75.

Commenting on the continued aid to "Israel", a White House official said conditioning aid is not the United States policy, the Washington Post relayed.

Sixty-nine percent of "Israel's" arms acquisitions in 2023 came from US corporations, 30% came from Germany, and 0.9% from Italy, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute's (SIPRI) annual study issued in March.

The report detailed that “at the end of 2023, the USA rapidly delivered thousands of guided bombs and missiles to Israel."

"By the end of 2023, pending deliveries of major arms to Israel included 61 combat aircraft from the USA and 4 submarines from Germany," according to the report.

According to SIPRI, the US has sold fighter planes to the occupation in recent decades, allowing the IOF to strike Palestinian Resistance movements and the Lebanese Resistance - Hezbollah.

US shields 'Israel' from scrutiny, violations with unlimited weapons

The general public has remained in the dark regarding up to nearly $1 billion in US military aid to "Israel", Responsible Statecraft reported.

The small weapons transfers to "Israel" happened since it is not required by law to notify Congress of any transfer that falls below the $25 million threshold, which the US has been delivering since October 7.

Such reports have been corroborated by The Washington Post, which released a similar report concerning how the US approved and executed more than 100 arms deals and foreign military sales to the Israeli regime since the onset of the war on Gaza in October.

The Post confirms that only two foreign military sales to the Israeli occupation have been publicly disclosed since the war on Gaza began.

According to former officials, such transfers have been made in the past for many reasons, and only approximately 2% of weapons transfers exceed the threshold for notification to Congress.

Additionally, many of those weapons were most likely pre-positioned in the occupation prior to the war. "Israel" holds a stockpile of American weaponry on its territory, to which it has special access.