Trump approves $2.8B weapons sale to ‘Israel’

• Biden had paused a similar weapons shipment to ‘Israel’.

The Trump administration is moving forward with a major arms package for ‘Israel’ that includes tens of thousands of 2,000-pound bombs, the same category of munitions the Biden administration once paused over fears they could cause mass casualties in Gaza. 

According to US, the $2.8 billion package would send ‘Israel’ 40,000 heavy bombs: 20,000 Mk84s and 20,000 BLU-117s. 

Congress has been informally notified of the pending sale, though it has not yet been finalized. 

Most of the cost would be covered through foreign military financing, a system in which US taxpayer dollars are provided to ‘Israel’ so it can purchase the weapons from American manufacturers.

The 2,000-pound bombs come in several variants, some built to penetrate deep underground targets, others designed to detonate above ground with a wider blast radius.

Read more: Trump says US weapons production at unprecedented levels

Part of a Broader Pattern

This latest sale continues a string of moves by the Trump administration to bolster ‘Israel's’ military capabilities.

 Last year, the administration bypassed the standard congressional review process to approve a roughly $3 billion sale that included more than 35,500 of the same bombs. In January, it approved additional arms sales to ‘Israel’ totaling $6.67 billion.

The bombs at the center of this new deal were also the subject of a 2024 Biden administration hold on one shipment, a hold Trump lifted upon returning to office.