The U.S. State Department announced on Friday that it authorized a $2.04 billion sale of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel.
“The government of Israel has requested to buy 35,529 MK 84 or BLU-117 General Purpose bomb bodies, or a combination of both, and 4,000 I-2000 Penetrator warheads,” the department stated.
“The secretary of state has determined and provided detailed justification that an emergency exists that requires the immediate sale to the government of Israel of the above defense articles and defense services in the national security interests of the United States, thereby waiving the congressional review,” the department stated.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced in January that he was overturning a Biden administration policy of refusing to sell 2,000-pound bombs to Israel over concerns that they contributed to civilian casualties in Gaza.
The weapons were previously at the center of a dispute between former president Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with Biden saying that the bombs were the only type of munition that he had denied to Israel and Netanyahu releasing a video on social media implying that Washington was slow-rolling broad categories of materiel.
“A lot of things that were ordered and paid for by Israel but have not been sent by Biden are now on their way,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Jan. 25.
According to the State Department, delivery of the bombs is expected to begin in 2026.
