[🇮🇱] Israel and the USA Relation

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Date of Event: Feb 3, 2025 Source : https://www.thedailystar.net/news/world/news/israeli-pm-travels-us-talks-3814686

Israeli PM travels to US for talks
One Palestinian killed in Israeli raid in West Bank

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday left for the United States where he will become the first foreign leader to meet Donald Trump since the US president returned to office.

His visit comes as a fragile truce holds between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Both groups are backed by Iran. Netanyahu will begin talks on a second phase to the Gaza ceasefire, his office said.

Before boarding his flight, Netanyahu said the pair would discuss "victory over Hamas, achieving the release of all our hostages and dealing with the Iranian terror axis". Netanyahu spoke with the US President's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff on Saturday and agreed that ceasefire negotiations would "begin when they meet in Washington".

Netanyahu's office said Witkoff would talk to Qatar and Egypt, key mediators, before discussing with the Israeli premier "steps to advance the negotiations, including dates for delegations to leave for talks".

Meanwhile, Palestinian health ministry said one person was killed by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank yesterday. The Israeli military launched a major offensive in the area last month dubbed "Iron Wall" aimed at rooting out Palestinian groups from the Jenin area.​

 

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US approves $7.4b arms sale to Israel

The United States on Friday announced the approval of the sale of more than $7.4 billion in bombs, missiles and related equipment to Israel, which has used American-made weapons to devastating effect during the war in Gaza.

www.newagebd.net

US approves $7.4b arms sale to Israel
Agence France-Presse . Washington, United States 08 February, 2025, 22:38

The United States on Friday announced the approval of the sale of more than $7.4 billion in bombs, missiles and related equipment to Israel, which has used American-made weapons to devastating effect during the war in Gaza.

The state department has signed off on the sale of $6.75 billion in bombs, guidance kits and fuses, in addition to $660 million in Hellfire missiles, according to the US Defence Security Cooperation Agency.

The proposed sale of the bombs ‘improves Israel’s capability to meet current and future threats, strengthen its homeland defence, and serves as a deterrent to regional threats,’ DSCA said in a statement.

And the missile sale would ‘improve Israel’s capability to meet current and future threats by improving the ability of the Israeli air force to defend its borders, vital infrastructure, and population centres,’ it said.

Israel launched a hugely destructive offensive against Hamas in Gaza in October 2023 in response to an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian militant group that month.

The war has devastated much of Gaza—a narrow coastal territory on the Mediterranean—resulting in the displacement of much of its population, but a ceasefire has been in effect since last month, bringing a halt to the deadly conflict and providing for the release of hostages seized by Hamas.

In response to concerns over civilian deaths, then-president Joe Biden’s administration blocked a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel—larger than those in the latest proposed sale—but his successor Donald Trump reportedly approved the shipment after returning to office.

While the state department has approved the sale of the bombs and missiles, the transactions still need to be approved by Congress, which is unlikely to block the provision of the weapons to Washington’s closest ally in the Middle East.​