The Trump administration plans to sell more than $7 billion in weapons to Israel, including thousands of missiles and bombs.
The State Department told Congress Friday of the massive arms-sales agreement – which comes as a fragile ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas holds — two days after President Donald Trump met at the White House with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Two separate State Department-approved sales approved were delivered to Congress.
The first is for $6.75 billion for an array of munitions, guidance kits and other related equipment. It includes 166 small-diameter bombs, 2,800 500-pound bombs, and thousands of guidance kits, fuses and other bomb components and support equipment. Those deliveries would begin this year.
The second arms package is for 3,000 Hellfire missiles and related equipment for an estimated cost of $660 million. Deliveries of the missiles are expected to begin in 2028 and their use will require additional training by the U.S. military.
The sale is another step in Trump’s effort to bolster Israel’s weapons stocks. In late January, days after he took office, he lifted the hold on sending 2,000-pound bombs to Israel. The Biden administration had paused a shipment of the bombs known as “bunker busters” over concerns about civilian casualties, particularly during an assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
Trump told reporters he released them to Israel “because they bought them.”
Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, ripped the Trump administration for bypassing Congress and moving ahead with the weapons sale.
“Earlier today, the Trump Administration informed me that it would abrogate Congressional oversight and years of standing practice and immediately notify billions of dollars in arms sales,” Meeks said in a statement on Friday. “This move is yet another repudiation by Donald of Congress’ rightful and legitimate oversight prerogative.”
Biden administration officials informally notified Congress about the sale last month. Officials then said some of the arms in the package could be sent from current U.S. stocks but most would take a year or several years to deliver.
It’s typically standard practice for the State Department to first notify the top four lawmakers on the foreign relations committees in the House and Senate if the price tag exceeds a certain amount before providing Congress with a formal notice. If Meeks or any of the other three lawmakers on the relevant committees were to object to a sale, traditionally the State Department would hold back on making a formal notice until the issues that member raised were resolved.
The announcement comes at a particularly sensitive time, but underscores Trump’s staunch support for Israel.
The president and Netanyahu met Tuesday at the White House and discussed the fragile ceasefire and hostage deal in the Israel-Hamas War and shared concerns about Iran. Three more Israeli hostages were released Saturday under the truce.
Allies have expressed opposition to Trump’s Gaza resettlement plan and expressed worries it could jeopardize the ceasefire deal.
However, Trump insisted Friday it was a simple “real estate transaction,” and that the U.S. is in “no rush to do anything.”
With Post wires.
