US plans to boost Israeli military aid by $1 billion: Reports

American and Israeli military officials are negotiating a plan to increase the annual US military aid to Israel by as much as $1 billion, according to the Israeli media.

This boost will be on top of the current $3.1 billion that Tel Aviv annually receives from Washington, a source close to the military aid process said.

Talks on military aid began recently and are now being discussed by senior US and Israeli military officials.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had put the talks on hold ahead of the nuclear agreement reached between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries, the US, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany, on July 14.

The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine General Joseph Dunford, arrived in Israel on Saturday in a trip that signaled both sides were willing to put aside disagreements over the nuclear agreement with Iran.

The top military officer met with Netanyahu Sunday and pledged further military cooperation with Israel.

A senior Israeli official said that Washington’s promise of increasing the supply of military hardware to various Persian Gulf Arab states, concerned by the Iran deal, would also require “an answer for preserving [Israel’s] qualitative military edge.”

Israeli officials have so far denied the reports of a large boost in US military aid as “rumors.”

Before Netanyahu suspended the military negotiations, the two sides were about to agree on a new package of grants worth $3.6 billion to $3.7 billion a year, according to US and Israeli officials.

The allies had been working to agree on a new 10-year contract to extend the current military aid package, which is due to expire in 2017.

Israel spends most of the aid it receives from the US to buy American military hardware, such as jets and components for missile systems.

A new agreement allows Israel to purchase items such as F-35 warplanes. A significant increase in military assistance would also enable Israel to buy V-22 tilt rotor aircraft.

The latest pledge comes amid rising Israeli violence against Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Tensions flared after Israeli regime’s imposition in August of restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque. Dozens of Palestinians have been killed in clashes with Israeli forces and settlers across the occupied territories so far this month.

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