Despite the U.S. and Israeli governments’ growing rift over the Gaza war, the Biden administration continues to authorize major weapons transfers.

The Biden administration in recent days quietly authorized the transfer of billions of dollars in bombs and fighter jets to Israel despite Washington’s concerns about an anticipated military offensive in southern Gaza that could threaten the lives of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians.

The new arms packages include more than 1,800 MK84 2,000-pound bombs and 500 MK82 500-pound bombs, according to Pentagon and State Department officials familiar with the matter. The 2,000 pound bombs have been linked to previous mass-casualty events throughout Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. These officials, like some others, spoke to The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity because recent authorizations have not been disclosed publicly.

The 2,000 pound bombs, capable of leveling city blocks and leaving craters in the earth 40 feet across and larger, are almost never used anymore by Western militaries in densely populated locations due to the risk of civilian casualties.

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  • Linkerbaan@lemmy.worldOP
    416·
    9 months ago

    Eighteen hundred 2000 pound bombs!

    Genocide Joe wants every last Palestinian in refugee camps blown to bits!

      • Linkerbaan@lemmy.worldOP
        2310·
        9 months ago

        Even the libs have accepted at this point Biden can’t even do worse than Trump when it comes to supporting this Genocide. As Biden is 100% all in on Genociding every last Palestinian.

        Now they’ve given up and talk about the differences in domestic policies. You can have Genocide with abortion and trans rights!

  • mlg@lemmy.worldEnglish
    22·
    9 months ago

    This is more kt worth of explosives than what I have virtually dropped in over 2000 hours of war thunder mixed battles over 5 years

    spoiler
    • 1,800 (2,000 lbs) MK84s = 3,600,000 lbs of ordnance
    • 500 (500 lbs) MK82 = 250,000 lbs of ordnance

    = 3,850,000 lbs of ordnance being sent to Israel

    • My most common WT CAS load out: F-86-25 with 2x 1,000lbs AN-M65A1s = 2,000lbs total per flight

    • Total ground targets destroyed = 1683

    • Assuming worst efficiency of each 2,000 lbs load only destroying one target,

    1683 * 2,000 = 3,366,000 lbs of videogame ordnance dropped in 2000 hours of gameplay

    Yeah this is totally fine

  • Maggoty@lemmy.world
    151·
    9 months ago

    For the record Biden is now doing this against the will of the American people. We want this war stopped. Also, these deliveries are illegal under the Leahy Law. It does not matter if congress appropriated money and authorized them, the Leahy law will not release the weapons if there are credible accusations of war crimes. Which is why the State Department is brazenly claiming there’s no evidence.

    They are fully counting on American’s distaste of Trump to get Biden re-elected at this point. We need to show them that’s not a blank check.