Khaled Yousef and Ikram Kouachi
16 February 2025•Update: 16 February 2025
ISTANBUL
A shipment of US-made heavy bombs held up by the former administration of Joe Biden arrived in Israel, the Israeli Defense Ministry said Sunday.
A ministry statement said that a ship carrying the MK-84 2,000-lb munitions docked at Ashdod Port and was unloaded onto dozens of trucks and taken to Israeli airbases.
The shipment was held by the Biden administration last May following Israel’s ground offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
“The munitions shipment that arrived in Israel tonight, released by the Trump administration, represents a significant asset for the Air Force and the IDF (army) and serves as further evidence of the strong alliance between Israel and the United States,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said.
“I thank President Donald Trump and the US administration for their unwavering support of the State of Israel. We will continue working together to strengthen our security,” he added.
According to the ministry, over 76,000 tons of military equipment have arrived in Israel on 678 transport planes and 129 ships, the vast majority from the US, since the start of the Gaza war on Oct. 7, 2023.
The MK-84 is an unguided, high-explosive bomb weighing approximately one ton. It is designed to destroy large structures and cause massive damage over a wide radius.
These heavy bombs had been linked to the bombing of the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza, which killed more than 470 people in October 2023.
A ceasefire agreement took effect in Gaza on Jan. 19, halting Israel’s genocidal war, which has killed more than 48,200 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and left the enclave in ruins.
