World
US weighs $2.8 billion sale of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel
The package would include 40,000 Mk84 and BLU-117 bombs, NBC 6 South Florida reported. Congress has already received informal notice of the proposal, which is not yet final.
The Donald Trump administration is preparing a new arms sale to Israel that would include 2,000-pound bombs worth $2.8 billion, according to NBC 6 South Florida, citing two US officials and one person familiar with the plan.
The outlet reported that the package includes 40,000 bombs: 20,000 Mk84s and 20,000 BLU-117s. The deal has not been finalized, but Congress has already been informally notified. Most of the funding would come through foreign military financing, under which US funds are provided to Israel to purchase American-made weapons.
NBC 6 South Florida said The Washington Post had earlier reported on the proposal. The move adds to a series of Trump administration steps aimed at strengthening Israel’s military capacity during the war in Gaza, a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and devastated the territory despite a fragile US-brokered ceasefire.
The bombs had previously raised concerns over the risk of mass casualties in Gaza, which led Joe Biden’s administration to pause one shipment in 2024. According to NBC 6 South Florida, Trump lifted that hold after returning to office.
The report also recalled that last year the Trump administration bypassed the usual congressional review process to approve a sale worth nearly $3 billion that included more than 35,500 of the bombs. In January, it also authorized additional arms sales to Israel totaling $6.67 billion.
The 2,000-pound bombs come in several variants, with some designed to penetrate deep underground targets and others intended to detonate above ground and cause widespread destruction. While the Israeli military has disclosed few details about the weapons used in Gaza, experts who reviewed strike footage and blast fragments found on site believe US-made bombs were used there, aimed at Hamas tunnel networks but also killing people in densely populated areas.
The article added that although the heaviest fighting eased after the ceasefire took effect in October, Israel has continued to strike Gaza, including overnight attacks and raids into Tuesday that killed several people. That happened even after Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a key Middle East negotiator, met with Benjamin Netanyahu last month to try to move the truce forward and ask Israel to scale back its attacks.
According to the report, militants have also carried out shooting attacks on Israeli troops, and Israel says its strikes are a response to those actions and other ceasefire violations. The Hamas-led attack on southern Israel in 2023 killed about 1,200 people and resulted in 251 hostages. Gaza’s Health Ministry says Israel’s ensuing offensive has killed more than 73,264 Palestinians, including those killed since the ceasefire.
Sources
About this piece. Written by El Notero with AI assistance, from reporting published by the outlet cited above. El Notero did no original reporting on this story.
