More weapons transfers were approved amid Israel’s bombing of Gaza and preparations for expected retaliatory attacks by Iran and Hezbollah.
The United States has approved an additional $20 billion in arms transfers to Israel, despite concerns that Israeli forces routinely violate international law in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
The State Department announced Tuesday that Secretary of State Antony Blinken had approved the arms sale, which includes dozens of fighter jets as well as anti-tank weapons and air-to-air missiles.
The State Department said, “The United States is committed to Israel’s security, and assisting Israel in developing and maintaining a strong and ready self-defense capability is vital to U.S. national interests.”
The announcement comes as Israel prepares for expected retaliation from Iran and the Lebanon-based group Hezbollah. Concerns have risen about the possibility of a regional war after the killing of high-ranking Hamas and Hezbollah officials.
The United States has said it is working to avoid such a situation. President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that Iranian retaliation could be avoided if a ceasefire deal is reached to end the war in Gaza, where Israeli forces have killed nearly 40,000 people, mostly women and children, leveled entire neighborhoods and blocked shipments of humanitarian aid.
Critics have called on the Biden administration to halt weapons transfers to Israel, alleging they make the US complicit in Gaza’s destruction and are an essential source of leverage that the administration has refused to exploit in its efforts to secure a ceasefire deal to end the war, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted will continue.
There are reports that Israeli forces are systematically violating international law and committing abuses such as torture, but they have also failed to stop the flow of weapons, while US law requires that support be stopped to military units accused of serious human rights violations.
Speaking at the United Nations on Tuesday, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said her country’s goal in the region is to “turn down the temperature.”
“This will start with finalising an agreement for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza with the release of the hostages. We must see this through to the end goal,” he told the UN Security Council.
