The announcement came as the US State Department formally told Congress of a plan to sell more than $US7 billion ($11 billion) in weapons to Israel, including thousands of bombs and missiles, and just two days after Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Oval Office in Washington.
The massive arms sale is another step in Trump’s effort to bolster Israel’s weapons stocks. In late January, soon after he took office, he lifted the hold on sending 900-kilogram bombs to Israel. The Biden administration had paused a shipment of the bombs over concerns about civilian casualties, particularly during an Israeli assault on Rafa in southern Gaza.
A Palestinian child carries water along the destruction caused by the Israeli air and ground offensive in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip.Credit: AP
Trump told reporters that he released them to Israel, “because they bought them”.
According to the State Department, two sales were sent to Congress on Friday. One is for $US6.75 billion in an array of munitions, guidance kits and other related equipment. It includes 166 small-diameter bombs, 2800 227-kg bombs, and thousands of guidance kits, fuses and other bomb components and support equipment. Those deliveries would begin this year.
The other arms package is for 3000 Hellfire missiles and related equipment for an estimated cost of $US660 million. Deliveries of the missiles are expected to begin in 2028.
Details of the planned hostage exchange came as Trump continued talking up his widely criticised proposal to remove all Palestinians from Gaza and redevelop it as an international travel destination.
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The idea, which Trump now characterised as a “real estate transaction”, has been roundly rejected by the region’s Arab governments and by Palestinians themselves, who say forcing them from their homes would constitute ethnic cleansing.
But Trump insisted that his idea “had been very well received”. After calling originally for “permanent” resettlement of the Palestinians, his newest comments left the question of duration unresolved.
“We don’t want to see everybody move back and then move out in 10 years” because of continued unrest, he said.
Israeli forces have withdrawn from most of Gaza, as specified by the ceasefire agreement, but remain in border areas. The military has warned Palestinians to avoid areas where troops are operating and has opened fire on people accused of violating the terms of the agreement.
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Negotiators have yet to agree on terms for the deal’s second phase, in which Hamas would release dozens more hostages in return for more prisoners and a lasting ceasefire.
The Palestinian prisoners’ office said that of those set for release on Saturday, 18 are serving life sentences, 54 have long-term sentences, and 111 are Gazans who were detained after the October 7 attack.
