The US disbursement of $3.5 billion to Israel comes months after the US Congress appropriated the money for Israel's war in Gaza.

A State Department spokesperson said the department notified Congress on the evening of August 8 that the United States intends to release billions of dollars in military funding to Israel. The money comes from a $14.1 billion supplemental funding bill for Israel passed by Congress in April.

Essentially, the funding is money that Israel can use to purchase advanced weapons systems and other equipment from the US through the Foreign Military Financing program.

Israel will not receive $3.5 billion in U.S.-made weapons immediately. Instead, the funding is to allow Israel to buy systems that are under construction and likely won’t be delivered for years. The additional funding also allocates billions of dollars worth of equipment that the Pentagon can draw from its stockpile and send directly to Israel on a much faster timeline.

The funding was released this week as Israel and the wider region braced for an attack by Iran or Hezbollah following the assassinations of Hamas Islamist group leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran and Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr in Lebanon.

The US also announced a new $125 million military aid package for Ukraine, including Stinger missiles, artillery shells and anti-armor systems. White House national security spokesman John Kirby said this would be the 10th round of military aid to Ukraine since President Joe Biden signed the national security requisition order in April.

Ngoc Anh (according to CNN, Reuters)