The United States has provided extensive military, diplomatic, and financial support to Israel during the ongoing Gaza war. This has included rapid deployment of warships and military aircraft, billions of dollars in military aid and expedited weapons shipments — including guided missiles, artillery shells, and advanced defense systems.
After an initial period of broader Western support for Israel's offensive, Israel and the United States have become increasingly isolated amid growing worldwide calls for a ceasefire, with the US vetoing six United Nations Security Council resolutions calling for a ceasefire. International rights groups have condemned the U.S. for providing support to Israel which they say risks complicity in Israeli war crimes and violations of the Leahy Law and Foreign Assistance Act.
As the war continued, tensions between the Israeli government and the Biden administration began to grow. Some in the US government became more publicly critical of Israel as Palestinian civilian casualties rose and opposition grew. Over a dozen U.S. officials resigned, and there were large-scale demonstrations on university campuses and outside defense contractors. In February 2024, the Biden administration issued a national security directive requiring written assurances from Israel that it was using US-supplied weapons in line with international law. In March 2024, the US began calling for an immediate and sustained ceasefire linked to the release of hostages, and Israel criticized the US for allowing a ceasefire resolution to pass at the UN Security Council. The US also voiced its opposition to much of Israel's post-war plan for Gaza. Despite this, however, American weapons transfers to Israel continued.
Background
After Hamas-led Palestinian armed groups attacked Israel on 7 October, resulting in the death of 1,195 Israelis, 828 of which were civilians, Israel began a military campaign against Gaza. Since the start of the Israeli operation, more than 73,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed, of the whom at least half of those identified were women and children, with at least 80% of the total dead being civilians. Almost 7,400 Palestinians are missing and presumed trapped under rubble. Israel placed Gaza under a complete blockade, including the prevention of fuel and water from entering the Gaza Strip. The United States described Hamas-led attack as "unprovoked," and started sending warships and warplanes into the region, prepared to give Israel whatever it needs. Civil rights groups such as the Center for Constitutional Rights meanwhile called on the government to address the underlying issues that have led to the recent violence, such as Israel's illegal possession of the Palestinian lands and its blockade of Gaza as well as "the apartheid regime throughout historic Palestine".
Following Israel's victory over surrounding Arab forces in the 1967 Six-Day War and its subsequent occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza, military assistance to the country surged significantly. The Iron Dome, which became operational in 2011, was created with the help of the United States, which is responsible for providing components for the system, including allocating more than $1.5 billion for missile defense for Israel in 2022. As part of a record $38 billion agreement over ten years negotiated under former US President Barack Obama in 2016, US military aid to Israel exceeded $3.8 billion in 2023. Of this $3.8 billion, half a billion was for Israel's missile defense. Washington has announced that it will replenish Israel's ammunition used in the war.
Military support Weapons transfers
The Biden administration caused controversy after bypassing Congress on multiple occasions to authorize arms sales to the Israeli military. Unlike the United States' military support for Ukraine, details of weapons sent to Israel have been vague. Leaked details have shown that the U.S. has sent laser-guided missiles, 155mm shells, new army vehicles, among others, at Israel's request. According to the Costs of War Project at Brown University, the United States spent $21.7 billion on military aid to Israel from October 2023 to September 2025.
In December 2023, the WSJ report stated that US arms shipments to Israel since the start of the war included 15,000 bombs and 57,000 155mm artillery shells. The United States also delivered 100 BLU-109 bunker buster bombs, 5,000 unguided Mk82 bombs, more than 5,400 Mk84 bombs, about 1,000 small diameter GBU-39 bombs, and approximately 3,000 JDAM guidance kits.
An investigation by The Guardian found the U.S. government was using special mechanisms to protect Israel from domestic human rights laws to continue sending weapons. Following a trip to Washington D.C. in June 2024, Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant addressed Israeli complaints about slowed arms transfers, stating, "Obstacles were removed and bottlenecks were addressed". A report by ProPublica found the U.S. State Department had ignored reports about potential human rights violations by the Israeli army to continue weapons transfers to Israel. Current and former State Department officials stated there were more than 500 reports of Israel using U.S. weapons to cause "unnecessary harm to civilians" in the Gaza Strip, but that no action had yet been taken on any of the reports.
Unnamed officials stated in March 2024 that the U.S. had signed off on an additional 1,800 MK84 2,000-pound bombs and 500 MK82 500-pound bombs. In May 2024, Israel used two U.S.-made GBU-39 missiles during the Tel al-Sultan massacre. GBU-39 bombs were also identified in other attacks on dense civilian areas, including the Al-Sardi school attack and the Al-Tabaeen school attack. In June 2024, two U.S. officials stated the United States had transferred ten thousand 2,000-pound bombs and thousands of Hellfire missiles to Israel since 7 October. In late-June 2024, an Israeli official stated the Biden administration would soon transfer a delayed shipment of 500 pound bombs to Israel. In mid-July 2024, a U.S. official confirmed that the United States was resuming its transfers of 500 pound bombs to Israel.
In August 2024, the Biden administration approved a $20 billion arms sale to Israel, including F-15 fighter jets and tank and mortar shells. The United States approved a $165 million sale of military tank trailers, including replacement parts, tool kits, and logistics support.
Naval and air support The United States has provided naval and aerial support to Israel on multiple occasions since October 2023. In April 2024, U.S. fighter jets, along with the U.K., France, and Jordan, shot down Iranian drones and missiles directed at Israel. In June 2024, the United States sent the USS Wasp and its marines aboard to serve as a deterrent to Hezbollah in its conflict with Israel. In August 2024, the United States deployed the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, equipped with stealth F-35C Lightning II combat jets, and the ballistic missile submarine USS Georgia, to Israel.
In October 2024, the United States deployed the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, along with 100 U.S. troops to Israel. That same month, an investigation using available open source data found that U.S. aircraft were responsible for 33 percent of reconnaissance flights, providing Israel with intelligence on ground movements in the Gaza Strip. In November 2024, the United States ordered ballistic missile defense destroyers, a fighter squadron, tanker aircraft, and Air Force B-52 long-range strike bombers to "make clear" to Iran that the U.S. would "take every measure necessary to defend" its interests in the region.
In response to the United States's involvement, U.S. Representatives Rashida Tlaib and Cori Bush wrote a letter to the Biden Administration asking for an explanation as to the country's participation in Israel's military engagements and suggesting such collaboration was unauthorized and unconstitutional.
Financial support The United States has provided $9 billion in loan guarantees to Israel. Israel has also issued $5 billion of debt in the U.S. during the war with state and local governments making up a large portion of the purchases. Karen Wells et al. point to the billions in financial support as evidence of US complicity in Israel's "genocidal war". Research in 2024 showed that Israel's military relies heavily on fuel imports from the US for its operations in Gaza. Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, said the United States' provision of fuel to Israel after the ICJ's provisional ruling was "a breach of the Genocide Convention".
As of April 2024, state and local governments in the U.S. had purchased $1.7 billion in Israel Bonds since 7 October 2023. States which have purchased Israel bonds during the war include Florida, Illinois, Indiana, New York, and Texas. Palm Beach County in Florida has purchased almost $700 million in Israel bonds during the war, leading residents to file a lawsuit against the county comptroller Joseph Abruzzo for allegedly violating his fiduciary duty. On 6 February 2025, President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 14203 imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) due to its arrest warrants for Israeli leaders. In June 2025, the United States imposed financial sanctions on four ICC judges including two who were part of the investigation of Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant. The US also imposed financial sanctions on Francesca Albanese after she issued a report on corporate involvement in the Gaza war. On 20 August 2025, the US sanctioned ICC judge Nicolas Guillou for authorizing the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant. The US also sanctioned ICC prosecutors Nazhat Shameem Khan and Mame Mandiaye Niang for continuing to investigate Israel.
Protests
Josh Paul, a senior State Department official specializing in arms transfers, resigned after stating the U.S. government continues to sell weapons to Israel despite its record of human rights abuses.
"Direct action" tactics were adopted against arms companies in the United States that supplied arms to Israel, including Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Textron, Boeing, L3Harris, Raytheon Technologies and Northrop Grumman.
War protesters on university campuses are calling for universities to withdraw any funding from arms manufacturers and companies linked to the Israeli military, including Cisco, Caterpillar and General Electric.
A group of seven Democrat U.S. senators stated that the Biden administration was in violation of the Foreign Assistance Act, which stipulates that weapons cannot be transferred to governments blocking humanitarian assistance. Senator Chris Van Hollen called on Biden to cease weapons transfers, stating, "We need the president and the Biden administration to push harder and to use all the levers of US policy to ensure people don't die of starvation".
In June 2024, the NAACP called on the Biden administration to stop sending weapons to Israel.
In July 2024, a group of U.S. doctors and nurses returning from Gaza stated they had witnessed widespread war crimes committed by the Israeli army and called on the United States to implement an arms embargo. In October 2024, a majority of all American doctors who had volunteered in Gaza in the prior year signed a letter to the Biden administration calling for an arms embargo. Later the same month, the editorial board of the Financial Times called for an U.S. arms embargo on Israel, stating, "Biden has the tools to rein in Netanyahu. He must halt the offensive arms sales to Israel that enable its relentless bombing of Gaza and Lebanon."