US to approve fighter jets in largest arms sale to Israel since Gaza conflict

The administration of US President Joe Biden is about to approve the sale of 50 US-made F-15 fighter jets to Israel, US media has reported.

The arms sale is expected to be worth over 18 billion US dollars, the largest of its kind since the Israel-Hamas conflict broke out on October 7 last year, according to a Monday report by CNN citing people familiar with the matter.

The White House is also expected to notify Congress of a sizeable new sale of precision-guided munitions to Israel, CNN reported.

Among the more than 100 military sales to Israel that the United States has approved since October 7, the value of most of those sales has not crossed the threshold for a notification to Congress.

The sale is likely to face heated debate on Capitol Hill, as some lawmakers of Biden's Democratic Party have called for the administration to limit military aid to Israel at a time when more than 32,000 Palestinian civilians have been killed.