US President Donald Trump’s administration plan to send $2.8 billion worth of weapons to Israel has drawn objections from US lawmakers and politicians because it includes 40,000 2,000-pound bombs, amid concerns they could be used in densely populated areas of Gaza and Lebanon.
Objections from US lawmakers to the deal
Representative Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Wednesday that he did not support selling this type of bomb to Israel, citing concerns that the munitions might not be used in accordance with international law.
Meeks, a New York representative, said he was committed to Israel’s security but considered the deal to raise serious unresolved concerns about how the bombs would be used in densely populated areas. He described them as among the most destructive munitions in the US arsenal.
Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen said he would work to block the deal, criticizing the shipment of bombs funded by US taxpayers to the Israeli government. Former Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene also objected to funding the shipment with US tax dollars.
Concerns over the use of bombs in densely populated areas
Brian Finucane, senior adviser to the US program at the International Crisis Group, said Israel’s conduct of its air war in Gaza and southern Lebanon raised genuine concerns about the use of these weapons in densely populated areas, as well as the criteria it uses to identify military targets.
Conservative journalist and political commentator Tucker Carlson described the military package as a “gift” to the Israeli government and called on senators and US lawmakers to block it. According to US officials cited in media reports, the planned shipment is worth $2.8 billion.
The shipment’s components and military value
Its value would also exceed a $2.04 billion arms deal approved in 2025 after the usual congressional review procedures were bypassed. The MK-84 is considered one of the most destructive conventional munitions in the Western military arsenal. Its blast propels metal fragments over long distances, and it can penetrate concrete and thick metal and create large craters.
The plan comes as the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip continues since October 7, 2023, killing more than 73,000 Palestinians and injuring over 174,000, while destroying about 90% of the strip’s infrastructure.
Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley, Beirut’s southern suburbs and other areas have also killed about 9,000 people and injured more than 30,000 as of this September.
