US military aid to Israel for Gaza war reaches $17.9 billion

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) – The US has provided Israel with $17.9 billion in military aid since the outbreak of its genocidal war on the Gaza Strip last year, a nonpartisan research project showed on Monday.

The Brown University’s Costs of War project said an additional $4.86 billion has gone into stepped-up US military operations in the region since Oct. 7, 2023.

It said the aid included the costs of a Navy-led campaign to thwart attacks on commercial shipping by Yemen’s Houthis in the Red Sea.

According to the report, the majority of US military aid to Israel comprised munitions, ranging from artillery shells to 2,000-pound bunker-buster bombs and precision-guided munitions.

It also showed that the expenditures ranged from $4 billion to replenish Israel’s Iron Dome and David’s Sling missile defense systems to cash for rifles and jet fuel.

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip following an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last Oct. 7, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.

Nearly 41,900 people have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 97,100 others injured, according to local health authorities.

The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the territory amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.

Mediation efforts led by the US, Egypt, and Qatar to reach a Gaza cease-fire and prisoner swap agreement between Israel and Hamas have failed over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to halt the war.

Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul