NATIONAL NEWS

Trump administration proposes selling nearly $6 billion in weapons to Israel

Sep 19, 2025, 12:24 PM | Updated: 12:28 pm

An Israeli tank and an armored personnel carrier (APC) move through an area of the Gaza Strip, as s...

An Israeli tank and an armored personnel carrier (APC) move through an area of the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Maya Levin)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS

(AP Photo/Maya Levin)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has told Congress it plans to sell nearly $6 billion in weapons to Israel, a fresh surge of support for the U.S. ally as it faces increasing isolation over its war in Gaza.

It includes one $3.8 billion sale for 30 AH-64 Apache helicopters, nearly doubling Israel’s current stocks, and a second $1.9 billion sale for 3,200 infantry assault vehicles for Israeli army, according to a U.S. official and another person familiar with the proposal who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss plans that have not been made public.

The packages would not be delivered for two to three years or longer.

The huge sales come as U.S. plans to broker an end to the nearly two-year war between Israel and Hamas have stalled and after Israel’s strike on Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, drew widespread condemnation among U.S. allies in the Middle East.

The U.S. has kept up its support despite growing international pressure on Israel and attempts from a growing number of U.S. Senate Democrats to block the sale of offensive weapons to Israel.

The State Department declined to comment on the sales, which were first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Israel has launched a new offensive, pressing forward with plans to take over Gaza City, as a professional organization of scholars studying genocide has said Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

The U.K, which last year said it was suspending exports of some weapons to Israel out of concerns they could be used to violate international humanitarian laws, recently barred Israeli government officials from attending the country’s biggest arms fair.

Turkey also said it was closing its airspace to Israeli government planes and any cargo of arms for the Israeli military, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in a speech condemned Israeli attacks on Gaza as disproportionate.

Trump said Friday that he plans to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Washington next week, with plans to discuss the purchases of Boeing aircraft and a deal for F-16 fighter jets.

The Biden administration paused a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel over concerns about civilian casualties, but Trump lifted that hold when he took office in January.

The Trump administration has already approved about $12 billion in major military assistance to Israel this year. Most recently, the U.S. in June approved a half-billion-dollar arms sale to Israel to resupply its military with bomb guidance kits for precision.

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Price reported from Porto, Portugal.

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Trump administration proposes selling nearly $6 billion in weapons to Israel