The United States has sent thousands of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel since October 7.

Written by Humeyra Pamuk and Mike Stone

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Biden administration has sent large quantities of weapons to Israel since the war in the Gaza Strip began. These include more than 10,000 high-destructive bombs weighing 2,000 pounds and thousands of Hellfire missiles, two U.S. officials reported in an updated list of the weapons shipments.

Since the war began in October of last year, the United States has fired at least 14,000 2,000-pound MK-84 bombs, 6,500 500-pound bombs, 3,000 Hellfire precision-guided air-to-ground missiles and 1,000 missiles, according to officials who were not authorized to speak publicly. Bunker buster bombs, 2,600 airborne small-diameter bombs and other weapons were transferred.

Although officials did not disclose a timeline for the shipments, the totals suggest that there has been no significant decline in U.S. military support to allies despite international calls to limit arms supplies and the administration’s recent decision to halt shipments of powerful weapons. bomb.

Experts said the contents of the shipment appeared to match those needed to replenish supplies used in Israel’s eight-month-long military campaign in the Gaza Strip following an October 7 attack by Palestinian Hamas militants that killed 1,200 people and captured 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures.

“While these numbers can be exhausted relatively quickly in a major conflict, this list clearly demonstrates that the United States is providing a significant level of support to its Israeli allies.” “The weapons listed are the kind that Israel could use in its fight against Hamas or in a potential conflict with Hezbollah,” said Tom Karako, a weapons expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The previously unreported delivery figures provide the most up-to-date and comprehensive tally of munitions delivered to Israel since the start of the Gaza war.

Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have been exchanging fire since the outbreak of the Gaza war, raising concerns that an all-out war could break out between the two sides.

The White House declined to comment. The Israeli Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

One U.S. official said the shipment was part of a larger list of weapons sent to Israel since the Gaza conflict began. A senior Biden administration official told reporters Wednesday that Washington has sent $6.5 billion worth of security assistance to Israel since Oct. 7.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed in recent weeks that Washington is withholding weapons, a claim repeatedly denied by U.S. officials, even as they acknowledge some “bottlenecks.”

The Biden administration has halted one shipment of a 2,000-pound bomb, citing concerns about its possible impact on populated areas of the Gaza Strip, but U.S. officials insist all other weapons shipments should continue as normal. A single 2,000-pound bomb can penetrate thick concrete and metal and create a large blast radius.

Reuters reported Thursday that the United States was discussing with Israel a shipment of large bombs that was halted in May over concerns about military operations in Rafah.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, international monitoring of Israel’s military operations in the Gaza Strip has intensified. The Palestinian death toll from the war exceeded 37,000, leaving coastal areas in ruins.

Washington provides $3.8 billion in annual military aid to its longtime ally. Biden warned that he would place conditions on military aid if Israel failed to protect civilians and allow more humanitarian aid to Gaza, but he did not do so other than delaying the May shipments.

Biden’s support for Israel in its war against Hamas has become a political liability, especially among young Democrats as he seeks reelection this year. It sparked a wave of “no-will” protest votes in the primaries and led to pro-Palestinian demonstrations on American college campuses.

While the United States has provided detailed accounts and quantities of military assistance it has sent to Ukraine to combat Russia’s full-scale aggression, the administration has provided few details on the full scale of American weapons and munitions sent to Israel.

Additionally, some of the weapons were shipped as part of arms sales authorized by Congress years ago but are only now beginning to be implemented, making shipments difficult to track.

One U.S. official said the Department of Defense has sufficient quantities of the weapons in its own inventory and has been consulting with U.S. industrial partners that produce the weapons, including Boeing (NYSE:) and General Dynamics (NYSE:), to see if those companies can ramp up production. He said he is working to increase it.

(This story has been corrected to correct a reference to $6.5 billion in U.S. “security assistance” to Israel instead of “weapons” in paragraph 9.)