An explosion erupts following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026 (AP Photo)
The Trump administration is planning to deliver powerful 2,000-pound bombs to Israel as part of an upcoming arms deal, weapons that prompted such concerns about the possibility of mass casualties in Gaza that the Biden administration paused their delivery two years ago.
The $2.8 billion package includes 40,000 of the bombs, made up of 20,000 Mk84s and 20,000 BLU-117s, according to the U.S. media.
Congress has been informally notified about the pending deal, most of which is to be paid for with foreign military financing, in which U.S. taxpayer dollars are given to Israel to turn around and buy the weapons from the United States.
The proposed sale is just the latest in a series of Trump administration steps to improve Israeli’s military capacity.
The sale signals that some strains in the relationship between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, especially since the war against Iran, are not impeding the closeness of the U.S.- Israeli alliance.
