The proposed U.S. weapons package would provide Israel with 40,000 2,000-pound bomb bodies and 20,000 penetrator warheads through American military financing as the administration begins consultations with Congress.

By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.

The Trump administration is preparing a $2.8 billion weapons package for Israel that would include tens of thousands of 2,000-pound bombs, setting up what would be one of the largest U.S. transfers of the heavy munitions to Israel in recent years.

The proposed package includes 20,000 MK-84 general-purpose bomb bodies, 20,000 BLU-117 bomb bodies and 20,000 I-2000 Penetrator warheads, according to details of the planned sale provided by a U.S. official familiar with the matter. Reuters separately confirmed the $2.8 billion proposal and the quantities of the MK-84 and BLU-117 bombs.

The weapons would be acquired through Foreign Military Financing, or FMF, under which the United States supplies funding that Israel can use to purchase American defense equipment and services.

The proposal has reached the informal congressional notification stage, meaning administration officials are consulting the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee before any formal notification and final sale. The package has not yet completed the U.S. arms-sale process, and its terms could still change.

“All foreign arms sales are moving through the appropriate process. We do not comment on pending sales,” a senior administration official said when asked about concerns surrounding the weapons and civilian casualties.

The MK-84 is a 2,000-pound general-purpose bomb capable of producing extensive blast effects against buildings, infrastructure and other targets. The BLU-117 is a thermally protected version of the same general class of bomb, while the I-2000 is designed for attacking hardened structures.

Israel has used 2,000-pound bombs in previous military operations in Gaza and Lebanon, where their employment in densely populated areas has drawn criticism from humanitarian organizations and some U.S. lawmakers because of the weapons’ large destructive radius. Israel has maintained that it targets military objectives and accuses Hamas and other armed groups of operating from civilian areas.

“They do like to use them a lot when they’re trying to target any building,” Trevor Ball, a former U.S. Army explosive-ordnance-disposal technician, said. “If Hezbollah or whoever is in a building, an MK-84 will bring down the whole building.”

The new proposal would exceed a major 2025 sale involving similar weapons.

In February 2025, the State Department approved a possible $2.04 billion sale to Israel containing as many as 35,529 MK-84 or BLU-117 bomb bodies, or a combination of the two, along with 4,000 I-2000 Penetrator warheads and related support. The government invoked emergency authority to bypass the normal congressional review period for that transaction.

The latest package would include 40,000 MK-84 and BLU-117 bomb bodies combined — approximately 4,500 more than were authorized in that 2025 package — while increasing the number of I-2000 Penetrator warheads fivefold to 20,000.

The proposed transfer also underscores the Trump administration’s reversal of restrictions imposed during former President Joe Biden’s term.

Biden paused a shipment containing 1,800 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs in spring 2024 amid concerns that the larger weapons could cause extensive civilian casualties if used during a major Israeli military operation in Rafah.

“We’ve been very clear that Israel should not launch a major operation in Rafah without accounting for and protecting the civilians that are in that battlespace,” then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at the time. Biden later said U.S.-supplied bombs had resulted in civilian deaths in Gaza.

Trump reversed the hold shortly after returning to the White House in January 2025, making the suspended 2,000-pound bombs available to Israel.

The newest proposal comes despite strains between Washington and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government over the direction of several Middle East conflicts.

The United States has sought to contain wider regional fighting while Israel has continued operations involving Hezbollah in Lebanon and has faced mounting international criticism over settlement expansion and settler violence in the West Bank. Fighting across the region has also intensified since the United States and Israel launched military operations against Iran earlier this year.

Brian Finucane, a former State Department lawyer who now serves as a senior adviser at the International Crisis Group, questioned what message such a large weapons package could send at a time when Washington says it wants to reduce regional tensions.

“If the Trump administration’s goal is to calm things down in the Middle East, the timing of this is unusual,” Finucane said. “Whether they intend to or not, it sends a vote of confidence to Israel.”

Support for American military assistance to Israel has historically crossed party lines in Congress, although opposition has grown, particularly among Democrats.

Nearly half of House Democrats recently supported an effort to cut military aid to Israel, according to Reuters, reflecting a significant shift from the broad bipartisan consensus that characterized U.S.-Israel policy for decades.

Israel remains the largest recipient of U.S. Foreign Military Financing.

Under a 10-year memorandum of understanding covering fiscal years 2019 through 2028, Washington provides Israel with $3.3 billion annually in FMF and another $500 million each year for cooperative missile-defense programs, for a total of $3.8 billion in annual security assistance contemplated by the agreement.

Those funds give Israel access to U.S.-manufactured weapons ranging from aircraft and precision-guided munitions to missile-defense systems.

The proposed $2.8 billion transaction does not mean 40,000 heavy bombs would immediately arrive in Israel.

Foreign Military Sales frequently involve lengthy manufacturing and contracting schedules. The February 2025 sale of similar MK-84 and BLU-117 munitions, for example, was expected to begin deliveries in 2026 despite being approved more than a year earlier.

Production capacity could make the timetable for a package of this size particularly significant as the United States replenishes weapons expended during the ongoing Middle East conflict and supplies multiple allies.

The administration has nevertheless continued emphasizing Israel’s ability to defend itself against regional threats, while critics of unconditional military support argue that Washington should place greater restrictions on weapons likely to be used in densely populated areas.

The pending sale places that dispute back before Congress on an unusually large scale.

If it advances in its current form, Israel would be positioned to purchase 40,000 additional 2,000-pound general-purpose bombs along with 20,000 penetrator warheads using U.S.-provided military financing — considerably expanding a stockpile of weapons that has become one of the most contentious elements of American military support for Israel.

Original article