News - The Washington Post: US to soon announce plans to sell Israel $18 billion-worth F-15s, other weapons

The US administration will soon announce a major arms sale to Israel, including 50 F-15 fighter jets worth more than $18 billion, sources say, reported The Washington Post (WP). Two key Democratic holdouts in the House and Senate signed off on this major arms sale to Israel after facing intense pressure from the Biden administration and pro-Israel advocates to allow the transaction to move forward, said three US officials familiar with the matter. Thus, the deal is unlikely to be blocked by Congress and will become one of the largest arms sales to Israel since the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in October of last year. The weaponry, often paid over many years, is largely financed by the more than $3.3 billion in US taxpayer funds Washington provides Israel every year. This package of weapons will include air-to-air missiles, Politico reported. In addition, the aforesaid WP sources confirmed some media reports, according to which the Washington administration intends to send to Israel a batch consisting of 1,800 2,000-pound (about 907 kilogram) and 1,700 500-pound (about 227 kilogram) bombs. Earlier, the delivery of these weapons was suspended due to US fears regarding a large-scale Israeli operation in the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.