US to supply F-35, F-15 fighter jets to Israel amid Gaza war

JERUSALEM

The US and Israel have concluded a massive arms deal that includes the supply of F-35 and F-15 fighter jets to Tel Aviv, the Hebrew Channel 12 reported Thursday.

The channel cited officials from the Israeli Defense Ministry who participated in the deal as saying an agreement has been reached between the US and Israel in which the Israeli army will be supplied with drones and thousands of rounds of ammunition in the coming days.

According to the officials, the deal includes supplying the Israeli army with a large number of F-35 and F15 fighter aircraft as well as Apache helicopters.

The officials said the deal is of an exceptional size as the war continues in Gaza and fighting in the north with the Lebanese Hezbollah group.

They said Israel requested priority from the Americans for the supplies, given the development of the war in Gaza.

Israel will be the first country to receive the advanced F-35 aircraft manufactured by Boeing.

The US has declared its support for Israel since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7 last year.

On Oct. 25, the results of a survey conducted by CBS News in the US revealed that 52% of Americans oppose their government sending weapons to Israel.

Israel has launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas, killing at least 25,900 Palestinians and injuring 64,110 others. Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli war has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while more than half of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.