US set to approve $2.8bn arms package for Israel featuring 40,000 heavy bombs

The Associated Press reports, citing US officials and a person familiar with the plan, that the Trump administration is set to approve an arms package for Israel worth $2.8bn.

The package, which has not been finalised, includes 40,000 bombs, made up of 20,000 high-explosive, low-drag general free-fall 907kg (2,000-pound) Mk84s, and 20,000 BLU-117s, another high-explosive, low-drag general-purpose bomb used by the US Navy, according to the AP.

The bombs have multiple variants, with some designed to penetrate deep, underground targets while others detonate above ground and cause widespread damage.

According to the AP report, Congress has been informally notified about the pending deal, most of which is to be paid for with foreign military financing in which American taxpayer dollars are given to Israel to turn around and buy the weapons from the US.

A senior administration official told the AFP news agency that “all foreign arms sales are moving through the appropriate process,” but would not comment on pending transactions.

The Israelis are a war belligerent, as they are technically still at war with Palestine, Lebanon and Syria since 1967, and with Iran since June 2025.

Gaza wars documented since 2008, wars in Lebanon documented since 2023, and air strikes on Syria documented since 2013, are all by the Israelis themselves. They are all found not in self-defense.

The United States is in this regard a co-belligerent because it sells weapons and munition, the Israeli war belligerent already has been using in their annihilation of Gaza and Lebanon, and have used in their wars on Iran in 2025 and 2026.

The United States have been in violation with the Law Of Neutrality for decades as it cannot hide behind policies forthcoming from Israeli infiltration in the political sovereignty of the country since the 1960s.

Under Article 16 of the Articles on State Responsibility, a state is held internationally responsible if it aids or assists another state in committing an internationally wrongful act

The US sells high explosive munitions knowing and intending for the Israelis to be used by them to continue to commit war crimes (e.g., intentional killings or launching indiscriminate attacks), the United States is complicit in an internationally wrongful act.

Under the Geneva Conventions, the United States has the obligation to "ensure respect" for IHL. Selling weapons with the knowledge that the Israeli war belligerent will use to violate the Geneva Conventions directly breaches this negative obligation.

US plans $2.8bn weapons transfer to Israel, raising questions about intended use

A White House official is not denying the widespread media reports of a pending transfer of arms to Israel. This is a $2.8bn package of heavy conventional weapons. It could include 40,000 bombs weighing 2,000 pounds [about 907 kilogram] each, including weaponry such as the MK-84s as well as the BLU-117s. And it would also include 20,000 penetrator warheads.

This is often being referred to as a sale; this really is more a proposal for a transfer of weaponry from the United States to Israel.

And the other issue politically for the Trump administration is that this type of weaponry includes some of the heaviest conventional bombs available right now. And so, there are going to be political questions about the intended use. What exactly is the desire of the United States, and what is Israel’s desire to use this weaponry for, given this will significantly boost its air capacity and potentially could be used in a multitude of regional fronts?

There is also enormous war fatigue in the United States among the American taxpayers, again, footing the bill for this. And given the high inflation, many taxpayers say this money could be better spent.

Top Democrat on US House committee says he will not support Israel bomb sale

Representative Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, says he will not support the sale of 2,000-pound (about 907kg) bombs to Israel over concerns that the munitions would not be used in accordance with international law.

President Donald Trump’s administration is planning to sell Israel a munitions package worth $2.8bn, which will include tens of thousands of highly destructive 2,000-pound bombs.

The package, funded through the Foreign Military Financing program – a mechanism in which Washington provides Israel with money that it then uses to buy US weapons – includes 40,000 bombs: 20,000 MK-84 general-purpose bombs and 20,000 BLU-117s, a thermally coated variant of the MK-84 designed for safer naval storage, along with I-2000 Penetrator warheads built to strike hardened, underground structures.

The leaders of congressional committees review sales under an informal process, but Meeks’s objection alone is not enough to prevent the president from going ahead with the sale.

Senior Democratic lawmaker to place hold on $2.8bn bomb sale to Israel

The ranking Democrat on the US House Foreign Affairs Committee Gregory Meeks says that he will place a hold on the Trump administration’s proposed sale of 40,000 bombs to Israel worth $2.8bn.

Meeks said that the administration did not provide sufficient assurances that bombs will be used by the Israeli government in accordance with US and international laws.

“The Trump administration’s proposed sale of 40,000 2,000-pound bombs, some of the most destructive munitions in our arsenal, raises grave, unresolved concerns about how these munitions could be used in densely populated areas of Gaza and Lebanon,” the Democratic representative from New York said.

UK unions condemn ‘genocidal regime’ in Israel

British trade unions have declared the need to stand united with the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement during an annual conference.

While the British government has taken “effective” measures regarding illegal Israeli settlements, it still bears the responsibility to respond to the demands of the Palestinian people, union leaders said.

Leaders from various unions called on the British government to leverage its international standing to end Israel’s genocide in Gaza and reach a two-state solution.

They also demanded the imposition of immediate and effective sanctions on the Israeli economy, including the seizure of all Israeli assets in Britain and a complete suspension of the arms trade and the UK-Israel trade agreement.

The unions emphasized the necessity of isolating what they described as the “genocidal regime” in Israel.