Maham Khan

ISLAMABAD: Israel has significantly increased its global arms imports over the past decade, becoming one of the world&rsquo;s largest importers. Most imports are high-tech systems that are either co-developed or financed through US military aid. Israel&rsquo;s volume of arms imports rose from the 34th highest in the world to become the 15th largest between 2020 and 2024, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The country now accounts for 1.9% of global arms imports, with primary sources from the US, Germany, and Italy. While these three countries were main suppliers, other countries, including the UK and France, also provided military components and services. United States: Primary arms supplier The US emerged as Israel&#39;s most significant arms supplier, accounting for 66% of the country&#39;s major arms imports during the 2020-24 period, according to SIPRI. These imports included combat aircraft, guided bombs, and armored vehicles, with 61 combat aircraft pending delivery by the end of 2024. According to a US Congressional Research Service report in May 2025, the US commitment to Israel&#39;s military capabilities extends beyond direct sales, with over $174 billion in bilateral assistance and missile defense funding provided since 1948. Throughout 2024 and 2025, the US continued substantial military support. Reuters reported that in February 2025, the US State Department approved multiple arms packages, including a $2.04 billion sale of 35,529 2000-pound bombs, a $675.7 million package of nearly 5,000 1000-pound bombs, and a $295 million sale of Caterpillar D9 bulldozers. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced nearly $12 billion in major Foreign Military Sales since the beginning of 2025. Germany: Second major supplier Germany ranked as the second-largest arms provider to Israel, accounting for 33% of the country&#39;s major arms imports between 2020 and 2024, according to SIPRI. German contributions were predominantly naval, with 81% of transfers consisting of frigates and 10% comprising torpedoes. The remaining 8.5% included armored vehicle engines. Following the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, Germany significantly increased military support. The country&#39;s parliament reported granting export licenses for 485 million euros&#39; worth of military equipment between October 7, 2023, and May 13, 2025 &mdash; a tenfold increase in arms exports to Israel compared to previous periods, as reported by Reuters. Italy Italy contributed the smallest portion of Israel&#39;s arms imports, accounting for 1% of major arms transfers between 2020 and 2024, according to SIPRI. Italian imports primarily consisted of light helicopters (59%) and naval guns (41%). Additional European arms support United Kingdom The United Kingdom maintained a complex arms export relationship with Israel. As of July 31, 2025, the UK had 167 non-suspended military export licenses authorizing a maximum export value of &pound;180 million. Of these, 55 listed the government of Israel as the end-user, covering components for trainer aircraft, missile defense systems, and submarines. The Business and Trade Committee within the House of Commons noted that the UK approved licenses for &pound;127.6 million worth of military equipment to Israel in the fourth quarter of 2024 &mdash; exceeding the combined total for 2020-23. France France maintained a limited arms relationship with Israel, with no major arms exports since 1998, SIPRI noted. However, the country continued to supply critical components, including parts for Israel&#39;s Iron Dome air-defense system. In 2024, French new orders to Israel totaled &euro;27.1 million, primarily consisting of components for re-export or defensive systems. Private defense contractors In addition to government-funded sales, several private companies also played central roles in Israel&#39;s arms supply chain. Boeing Co. was involved in munitions supply, providing guidance kits and fuses as part of a $6.75 billion military sales package, according to Reuters. Similarly, Lockheed Martin secured a $660 million missile deal for Hellfire Missiles. Israeli defense contractors have also played a crucial role in developing the country&rsquo;s military capabilities. Elbit Systems reported revenues of $1.63 billion in the second quarter of 2024, with 27% of sales originating from Israel and an order backlog of $21.1 billion. Reuters noted the company has been developing advanced technologies, including unmanned aerial vehicles, communication systems, and AI capabilities, with approximately 40 subsidiaries worldwide. Despite its advanced domestic defense industry, Israel continues to rely heavily on imports to project power beyond its borders in ways that punish, control, or weaken neighboring states and non-state actors rather than only defend its territory. Large-scale arms transfer and military aid have enabled these operations, fueling criticisms that military superiority is being used to impose strategic outcomes across the Middle East.

Articles

Israel's arms imports, mainly from the US, Germany, and Italy, have surged to support military superiority used not just for defense but to suppress and control neighboring states.

Inside the countries and companies supplying weapons to Israel

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: The Israeli military warned on Friday it would operate with &quot;unprecedented force&quot; in Gaza City, telling residents to flee as it presses its ground offensive on the territory&#39;s largest urban centre. Israel has pummelled Gaza City with air strikes and tank fire in its bid to seize it, nearly two years into the war that has devastated the Palestinian territory and left Gaza City gripped by a UN-declared famine. The assault comes ahead of a planned move by several Western governments, including Britain and France, to recognise a Palestinian state at a UN summit next week. The military launched its ground assault on Tuesday and has for days been telling residents to head south, but many Palestinians say the journey is prohibitively expensive and they do not know where to go. &quot;For several days, we&#39;ve been trying to evacuate to the south, but we haven&#39;t been able to find any means of transport,&quot; Khaled al-Majdalawi, a displaced Palestinian in western Gaza City told AFP, describing &quot;intense and continuous&quot; shelling. &quot;We finally found a way to leave early this morning. We packed our belongings and waited for hours, but until now, no one has come, and the driver isn&#39;t answering us,&quot; the 32-year-old said. The United Nations estimated at the end of August that about one million people were living in Gaza City and its surroundings.&nbsp;The military said on Friday it estimated 480,000 had fled since late August. Gaza&#39;s civil defence agency -- a rescue force operating under Hamas authority -- said 450,000 people had fled. On Friday, the military&#39;s Arabic-language spokesman announced the closure of a temporary evacuation route opened 48 hours earlier, saying the only way south was via the Al-Rashid road along the Mediterranean coast. &quot; The (military) will continue to operate with unprecedented force against Hamas and other terrorist organisations,&quot; Avichay Adraee said in a post on X addressing residents of the city. &quot;Take this opportunity and join the hundreds of thousands of city residents who have moved south to the humanitarian area.&quot; &#39;Too weak to walk&#39; The Israeli military has urged Palestinians to head to a &quot;humanitarian area&quot; in Al-Mawasi on the coast, where it says aid, medical care and humanitarian infrastructure will be provided. Israel&nbsp;first declared the area a safe zone early in the war, but has carried out repeated strikes on it since then, saying it is targeting Hamas.Nivin Ahmed, 50, fled south from Gaza City to the central city of Deir el-Balah on Thursday, walking with seven family members.&nbsp;&quot;We walked more than 15 kilometres (nine miles), we were crawling from exhaustion,&quot; she told AFP.&nbsp;&quot;My youngest son cried from fatigue. We took turns dragging a small cart with some of our belongings.&quot; Mona Abdel Karim, 36, said she had been unable to secure transport south and had been sleeping on Al-Rashid road for two nights with her family waiting for a driver.&nbsp;&quot;I feel like I&#39;m about to explode. We can&#39;t walk on foot -- my husband&#39;s parents are elderly and sick, and the children are too weak to walk,&quot; she said. AFP photographs from the coast road on Friday showed long lines of Palestinians heading south on foot or in vehicles piled high with meagre belongings, leaving behind them a scene of rubble and smoke. Shelling, gunfire Civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal reported &quot;artillery shelling and intermittent gunfire&quot; in the southwestern Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood of Gaza City. He also reported shelling and drone fire in northwestern areas of the city, and strikes in several neighbourhoods.Israeli fire killed at least 33 people across the territory on Friday, 18 of them in Gaza City, according to a tally of figures given by Gaza hospitals contacted by AFP. In a statement, the Israeli military said its troops in Gaza City were targeting militants &quot;using tank fire, armed UAVs (drones) and air strikes, dismantling terrorist infrastructure and locating weapons in the area&quot;.Media restrictions in the territory and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the details provided by the civil defence or the Israeli military. The US-backed offensive on Gaza City came as a United Nations probe accused Israel of committing &quot;genocide&quot; in the Gaza Strip, saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials had incited the crime. Israel rejected the findings and slammed the probe as &quot;distorted and false&quot;. Israel&#39;s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 65,174 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the territory&#39;s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.

Palestinians run as the 15-storey Mushtaha Tower collapses after being hit by an Israeli air strike, in Gaza City. (REUTERS)

Middle East

Israeli fire killed at least 33 people; Gaza's civil defence agency reports that about 450,000 people have fled.

Articles tagged with "Israel military"

Inside the countries and companies supplying weapons to Israel

Israel army says will use 'unprecedented force' in Gaza City