Exclusive: Since October 7, the US has supplied thousands of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel

Since the beginning of the Gaza War, the Biden administration has shipped Israel a significant amount of ordnance, including hundreds of Hellfire missiles and over 10,000 extremely lethal 2,000-pound bombs, according to two U.S. officials informed on an updated inventory of weapons shipments.

Speaking anonymously, the officials claimed that since the war began in October of last year, the US had transferred at least 14,000 MK-84 2,000-pound bombs, 6,500 500-pound bombs, 3,000 Hellfire precision-guided air-to-ground missiles, 1,000 bunker-buster bombs, 2,600 air-dropped small-diameter bombs, and other munitions.

Despite international calls to curtail weapons supplies and a recent administration decision to stop a shipment of heavy bombs, the totals imply there has not been a significant drop-off in U.S. military assistance for its friend, even though the officials did not provide a date for the shipments.

According to experts, the contents of the shipments seem to be in line with what Israel would need to restock supplies used in this intense eight-month military campaign in Gaza, which it initiated following the attack on October 7 by Palestinian Hamas militants, who, according to Israeli tallies, killed 1,200 people and kidnapped 250 more.

The weapons listed were the kind that Israel would use in its fight against Hamas or in a potential conflict with Hezbollah, according to Tom Karako, a weapons expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “While these numbers could be expended relatively quickly in a major conflict, this list clearly reflects a substantial level of support from the United States for our Israeli allies,” Karako said.

These delivery figures, which have never been made public, offer the most comprehensive and current accounting of all the weapons that have been sent to Israel since the start of the Gaza conflict.

Since the beginning of the Gaza War, Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have been exchanging gunfire, and there is growing fear that a full-scale conflict between the two parties may break out.

The White House opted not to respond. A request for comment was not immediately answered by the Israeli Embassy in Washington.

According to a U.S. official, the shipments are a part of a larger list of weapons that have been transferred to Israel since the start of the Gaza conflict. On Wednesday, a senior Biden administration official informed reporters that since October 7, Washington had supplied Israel with weaponry valued at $6.5 billion.

The assertion made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent weeks that Washington was withholding weaponry has been consistently refuted by American officials, despite their acknowledgement of certain “bottlenecks”.

Concerning the potential effects on heavily populated areas in Gaza, the Biden administration has suspended one shipment of the 2,000-pound bomb; but, U.S. officials maintain that all other arms transfers would proceed as usual. A 2,000-pound bomb has a large blast radius and can tear through metal and strong concrete.

According to a Reuters story published on Thursday, Israel and the United States are debating the return of a major bomb shipment that was put on hold in May because to concerns about the military operation in Rafah.

With the Gaza Health Ministry reporting that over 37,000 Palestinians have died in the conflict, which has left the coastal enclave in ruins, international scrutiny of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has increased.

Washington provides its longstanding partner with $3.8 billion in military aid each year. Though Biden has only delayed the May shipment, he has threatened to impose conditions on military aid if Israel did not safeguard civilians and permit additional humanitarian aid into Gaza.

As he seeks reelection this year, Biden’s backing of Israel in its conflict with Hamas has come to be seen as a political liability, especially among younger Democrats. It sparked a wave of “uncommitted” protest votes during the primaries and pro-Palestinian demonstrations at American colleges.

Although the United States offers comprehensive accounts and amounts of military assistance to Ukraine in its struggle against a full-scale Russian invasion, the administration has not disclosed much information regarding the total amount of U.S. arms and ammunition supplied to Israel.

The fact that some of the weapons are being transported as part of arms transactions that Congress approved years ago but are only now being completed makes the shipments difficult to follow.

According to a U.S. official, the Pentagon possesses an adequate amount of weaponry in its inventory and has been in communication with its manufacturing partners, including General Dynamics (GD.N) and Boeing Co (BA.N), opens new tab, to increase production.