ANKARA 

The United States has sent 230 cargo planes and 20 ships loaded with weapons and military equipment to Israel since the outbreak of the Gaza conflict on Oct. 7, according to Israeli media on Monday.

The US military assistance includes artillery shells, armored vehicles and basic combat tools for soldiers, Yediot Ahronoth newspaper reported.  

Israel’s Defense Ministry estimates the cost of the current war on the Gaza Strip at around 65 billion shekels ($17 billion).  

The newspaper, citing a Defense Ministry official, said the army had used most of the ammunition in its warehouses at the beginning of the war.

“But Israel managed to re-fill its warehouses in preparation for a possible large-scale war with the Lebanese Hezbollah group,” it added. 

At least 489 Israeli soldiers have been killed in clashes with Palestinian fighters in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, according to Israeli military figures.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7, killing at least 20,674 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 54,536 others, according to local health authorities. 

Around 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.
The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with half of the coastal territory's housing damaged or destroyed and nearly 2 million people displaced within the densely populated enclave amid shortages of food and clean water. 

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar