The United States has agreed to supply Israel with two iron Dome missile systems, according to a report, as Washington continues to support the regime’s brutal military campaign against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The Wednesday report by Defense News quoted a US Defense Department official as saying that plans are underway to send the two Iron Dome batteries to the Israeli-occupied territories to help the regime fend off threats caused by missile strikes from Gaza.
“As we’ve said previously, the US will be flowing additional Iron Dome support to Israel … As a result, the Department of Defense is currently engaged in planning to support the provision of US Iron Dome batteries to Israel,” said the unnamed official.
Washington had purchased the two Israeli-made Iron Dome batteries several years ago, said the report, adding that the US military personnel have been trained to use the systems in a secret location in Texas.
It was not clear from the report whether the US would seek to have the batteries returned from the occupied territories once the confrontation between Israel and the Palestinian resistance group Hamas and its allies ends.
The US has openly supported Israel’s onslaught against Gaza, a besieged territory on the Mediterranean where some 6,546 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 7, when Hamas launched barrages of rocket attacks on the Israelis while its fighters penetrated into the occupied territories.
Washington has already offered to station two of its own missile systems to the occupied territories of Palestine while it has also supplied the Israeli regime with air defense supplies, munitions, artillery rounds, armored vehicles and precision-guided munitions over the past weeks, according to Israeli and American officials.
The Americans have also moved their largest aircraft carrier, the Gerald R. Ford, to waters close to the occupied territories while another carrier is on its way to the area.
That comes as both the Americans and the Israelis are highly fearful of a potential spillover of the conflict to other countries in the region.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Wednesday that the US is developing contingency plans to evacuate Americans from the region in case the conflict spreads.
