U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday he had signed a declaration to expedite delivery of about $4 billion in military assistance to Israel.
The Trump administration, which took office on Jan. 20, has approved nearly $12 billion in major foreign military sales to Israel, Rubio said in a statement, adding that it “will continue to use all available tools to fulfill America’s long-standing commitment to Israel’s security, including means to counter security threats.”
Rubio said he had used emergency authority to expedite the delivery of military assistance to Israel, which is now in a fragile ceasefire in its war with Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.
Hamas started the war with its terror attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, an attack which left 1,200 dead in Israel, mostly civilians, and took about 250 hostages. The Israeli military offensive has, since then, killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, more than half of whom have been women and children.
The Pentagon said on Friday that the State Department had approved the potential sale of nearly $3 billion worth of bombs, demolition kits and other weaponry to Israel.
The administration notified Congress of those prospective weapons sales on an emergency basis, sidestepping a long-standing practice of giving the chairs and ranking members of the House Foreign Affairs and Senate Foreign Relations Committees the opportunity to review the sale and ask for more information before making a formal notification to Congress.
Friday’s announcements marked the second time in recent weeks that President Donald Trump’s administration has declared an emergency to quickly approve weapons sales to Israel. The Biden administration also used emergency authority to approve the sale of arms to Israel without congressional review.
On Monday, the Trump administration rescinded a Biden-era order requiring it to report potential violations of international law involving U.S.-supplied weapons by allies, including Israel. It has also eliminated most U.S. humanitarian foreign aid.
The Jan. 19 Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement halted 15 months of fighting and paved the way for talks on ending the war, while leading to the release of 33 Israeli hostages held in Gaza and around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees held by Israel.
