CrossFireArabia
Montesano Devito, a software engineer, blogs:
The United States spent $38bn on military aid to Israel since 2023!
The U.S. has experienced a 30% increase in homelessness at the same time!
And then he asks:
Wouldn’t it be better to spend this money on American citizens instead of funding genocide?
CrossFireArabia
An image captures the extensive destruction and the leveling of entire residential blocks in the Jabalia refugee camp caused by the ongoing full-flagged annihilation implemented by Israeli occupation forces in northern Gaza for nearly three months.
CrossFireArabia
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid thanked the Biden administration for allowing Israel to wage a war on Gaza, supporting Israel with ammunition during the past 15 months. His post on X comes after Biden provided $8bn boost in military aid to Israel as a genocide is under way in Gaza.
Mark Seddon commented:
A further $8 billion to pulverise Palestinians into the dust of the stinking rubble the billions already sent have created. This is what the American empire will be remembered for long after the footling Biden & Blinken are gone.
CrossFireArabia
Military analyst for the Israeli channel i24News, Yossi Yehoshua, confirmed that the Hamas movement has “succeeded in rebuilding its capabilities and recruiting new fighters, while Israel is still stuck in a complex situation, which is difficult to get out of, and is waiting for the deal to be concluded.”
The Israeli military analyst believed waiting for the deal is “the most correct and logical way out for Israel, otherwise it will continue to remain stuck in the mud,” explaining “no plan can be useful through the use of force and pressure on Hamas to sign an agreement.”
Yehoshua acknowledged Hamas is capable of recruiting the number of fighters it wants with young men amongst them, indicating this number is increasing, whilst also pointing out that the Islamic Resistance Organization “has doubled its fire as of lates, recently firing about 30 rockets towards the Gaza envelope.”
As for Israel, it is facing problems in their operations in the camps in central Gaza. Although it “carried out airstrikes, Israel faces a problem in carrying out ground activity, due to concerns that the bodies of Israeli prisoners and living prisoners are there.”
Former Israeli Minister, Haim Ramon, confirms that the achievements made by the Israeli army in the battlefields outside Gaza, “confirm the depth of the failure in the Strip,” after its “inability to achieve the main goal of the war, which is to overthrow the Hamas rule and eliminate its military capabilities.”
Ramon pointed out, in an article in the Israeli Maariv, the Hamas military force is still operating, and its civilian rule still extends throughout the Gaza Strip, despite being subjected to severe blows, and the martyrdom of both Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh, along with thousands of other fighters according to Jo24.
CrossFireArabia
Since October 7, 2023, the United States has spent over $22 billion in military aid for Israel. This includes assaults on Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reports that the US supplied 69% of Israel’s arms from 2019 to 2023. This share rose to 78% by the end of that period.
In December 2023, the US delivered over 10,000 tons of weapons worth $2.4 billion to Israel. By August 2024, this number increased to 50,000 tons, transported via hundreds of planes and ships.
The US has provided advanced military equipment to Israel. This includes Iron Dome missiles, precision-guided bombs, CH-53 helicopters, AH-64 Apache helicopters, 155mm artillery shells, bunker-busting munitions, and armored vehicles.
Since 1946, US military and economic aid to Israel has totaled over $310 billion, adjusted for inflation. A 10-year, $38 billion military aid deal signed in 2016 remains active, allocating $3.8 billion annually. Emergency packages in 2024 added billions more, including $14.1 billion approved in February and a $2.5 billion arms shipment in March.
US weapons used mainly against civilians have drawn condemnation. Critics point to limited Congressional oversight and ongoing scrutiny over the impact on Palestinians in Gaza.
In December 2023, a group of Palestinians filed a lawsuit against the US State Department. The lawsuit accuses the department of bypassing US human rights laws to fund Israeli military units accused of committing atrocities in Gaza and the West Bank.
Filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, the lawsuit states that Secretary of State Antony Blinken ignored the Leahy Law. This law prohibits US military aid to units committing gross human rights violations without accountability.
One plaintiff, a teacher from Gaza, was displaced seven times during the genocide. He lost 20 family members in the genocide.
The lawsuit criticizes the US for supporting Israel amid escalating human rights abuses since the genocide began in October 2023.
The US Senate is set to vote on legislation to block specific arms sales to Israel. Senator Bernie Sanders, along with Democratic Senators Jeff Merkley and Peter Welch, introduced resolutions to prevent the sale of 120mm mortar shells and Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs).
Another resolution, supported by Senator Brian Schatz, seeks to halt tank shell sales. JDAMs, manufactured by Boeing, convert unguided bombs into GPS-guided weapons.
Despite these efforts, bipartisan support for Israel makes it unlikely the resolutions will pass. Advocates argue that Israel has obstructed aid shipments desperately needed by Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
Criticism of US military aid to Israel continues to grow as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsens as reported in the Quds News Network.
