By Sharon Zhang ,
This story was originally published by Truthout on August 27, 2024
The U.S. has sent nearly two shipments of weapons to Israel on average every day since it began its genocide in Gaza on October 7, according to new figures from the Israeli military.
The Israeli military announced that it received its 500th shipment of weapons from the U.S. via aircraft on Monday since October 7, through the countries’ airlift partnership. The U.S. has also sent over 100 shipments of equipment by sea.
This represents over 50,000 tons of military equipment, the military said, or over 150 tons of equipment per day as Israel relentlessly slaughters Palestinians and their children in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. This includes equipment like armored vehicles, munitions and ammunition.
The latest figures are yet another show of the astonishing amount of weapons sent by the Biden administration to aid in Israel’s genocide. The U.S. has sent Israel billions in military assistance and funding to procure U.S.-made weapons; just last week, the U.S. approved a whopping $20 billion sale of weapons to Israel as it threatens war across the Middle East.
U.S. officials are risking being prosecuted for war crimes and even for genocide by allowing the steady flow of weapons to Israel, experts have said. Israel has used U.S. weapons to carry out countless attacks on Palestinians that experts say are war crimes. Experts have also noted that U.S. officials are flouting domestic law on human rights in order to send Israel more weapons.
The U.S. is Israel’s largest single foreign provider of weapons. Before October, the U.S. had already sent Israel tens of thousands of weapons for use in Israel’s decades of violent apartheid and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. As a result, Israel has one of the world’s most powerful militaries — now made even stronger by the deluge of weapons the U.S. has sent to Israel over the past 10 months alone.
Defense contractors are major beneficiaries of the genocide. A new analysis by Vertical Research Partners reported by the Financial Times found that the top 15 defense contractors in the world are forecast to rake in a record level of earnings over the next three years due in part to Israel’s heavy use of weapons.
According to the official death count by Palestinian health officials, Israel has killed over 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including at least 16,000 children. However, the true death toll is far, far higher, experts have said, with thousands of people missing under the rubble and likely many thousands more killed by Israel’s starvation and disease campaigns.
Pro-Palestine activists in the U.S. have, for months, been demanding that officials stop sending weapons to Israel. Public opinion polls have repeatedly shown that the majority of Americans think that the U.S. should stop sending weapons.
But politicians like Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris balk at the idea, saying that Israel has the “right to defend itself” — as Israel kills thousands of newborn children in cold blood in the territory that it essentially exercises full control over.During the Democratic National Convention last week, President Joe Biden claimed that his administration is working “around the clock” to secure a ceasefire in Gaza. Behind the scenes, however, the administration has been working around the clock to ensure that Israel doesn’t run out of weapons with which to slaughter Palestinians.