US supplies Israel with bombs amid Gaza bombardment
The United States
has allowed Israel , waging
an offensive in the Gaza Strip, to tap a local United States arms stockpile in the
past week to resupply it with grenades and mortar rounds, Rear Admiral John
Kirby, the Pentagon's press secretary, has said.
The munitions were located inside Israel as part of a
programme managed by the US military and called War Reserves Stock
Allies-Israel (WRSA-I), which stores munitions locally for US use that Israel
can also access in emergency situations, reports Aljazeeraa.
On Sunday, Barack Obama, the US
president, called for an immediate and sustainable ceasefire in Gaza .
In a statement, Kirby said: "Both munitions had been in
WRSA-I stock for a few years, well before the current crisis.
"All stocks in WRSA-I, as required by law, are 'in
excess to US requirements'.
"Issuing munitions from the WRSA-I stockpile was
strictly a sourcing decision and White House approval was not required.
"The United States
is committed to the security of Israel ,
and it is vital to US national interests to assist Israel to develop and maintain a
strong and ready self-defence capability.
"This defence sale is consistent with those
objectives."
Additional Israeli requests for US-manufactured ammunition
were also being processed in the US , the anonymous defence official
said.
'Iron Dome' funding
Separately, US politicians were working in Congress to
provide millions of dollars in additional funding for Israel 's
"Iron Dome" missile shield.
The US Senate Appropriations Committee added $225m for Iron
Dome to a spending bill intended mainly to provide money to handle an influx of
thousands of Central American children across the US-Mexico border.
The Gaza Health Ministry said 1,361 Palestinians, mostly
civilians, have been killed since Israel began its offensive on July
8.
On the Israeli side, 56 soldiers and three civilians have
been killed.
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