US approves sale of guided bombers to Israel

The US State Department on November 6 approved a $320 million sale to Israel of equipment to make precision GPS-guided bombs, according to a document sent by the department to Congress and obtained by The New York Times.

Palestinians search for survivors at the Jabaliya refugee camp, a day after an Israeli airstrike on October 31, in northern Gaza. (Source: Shutterstock)

Israel has used the kit in its bombing campaign in Gaza. The order follows a previous order for equipment worth nearly $403 million.

Israel has ordered more ammunition from the United States, along with equipment to build guided bombs. Modern militaries often add guidance systems to their bombs with the aim of minimizing civilian casualties, although the damage can still be very heavy, especially in urban areas.

Israel’s air defense arsenal consists largely of 1,000- and 2,000-pound bombs, among the largest used by any military force. Israel dropped at least two 2,000-pound bombs in an October 31 airstrike on Gaza’s crowded Jabaliya neighborhood. The attack killed dozens of people and injured many more, according to Gaza authorities and hospitals.

Israel said it had successfully targeted a senior Hamas commander who helped plan the October 7 attacks, which killed more than 1,400 people, mostly Israeli civilians, and kidnapped more than 240 others. Hamas denied having any of its commanders in the Jabaliya area at the time of the October 31 attacks.

The State Department accidentally sent a memo about the sale of new bomb-making equipment to congressional offices on the day of the Jabaliya attack. The memo said Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, a weapons manufacturer owned by the Israeli Defense Ministry , was paying $320 million for equipment and services for the “Spice Family Glider Bomb Assembly Kit,” a reference to a precision bomb made by Rafael. The seller was Rafael USA, an American company based in Bethesda, Md., with ties to Israeli business.

This is a transaction in which a foreign entity purchases weapons directly from a U.S. company rather than through the U.S. government. As such, the State Department is only required to disclose its approval in closed channels. The Congressional Register notes that the State Department filed the document on October 31, but it is not available on any public congressional or State Department website.

The memo was sent from Naz Durakoglu, assistant secretary for legislative affairs, to House Speaker Mike Johnson, as well as to the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, both of which oversee the State Department's approval of arms sales.

Israel's request for authorization to buy $320 million worth of bomb-making equipment was made earlier this year and went through an informal review process with congressional committees but had not received final State Department approval before the Oct. 7 attack, said Josh Paul, a State Department official who works in the office of political-military affairs, which oversees arms sales.

According to the document, an earlier order placed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems for the same equipment and worth nearly $403 million was approved by the ministry on February 5.

According to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Authority, Israeli attacks have killed some 10,000 Palestinians, 40 percent of them children and teenagers.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/my-lai-duyet-thuong-vu-ban-thiet-bi-nem-bom-dan-duong-cho-israel-249052.html