LONDON: Israel on Wednesday signed a deal with the US to acquire 12 twin-turboshaft attack helicopters, according to Israeli media.
Under the deal, Israel’s Defense Ministry will acquire 12 Boeing AH-64E Apache attack helicopters, with deliveries expected to begin in the early 2030s, the Times of Israel reported.
The agreement followed the Israeli government’s transfer of 1 billion shekels, or about $322.8 million, to the Defense Ministry.
The helicopters will be the “Echo” variant, which the ministry said was the Apache’s newest and most advanced model.
The purchase comes amid sustained domestic and international criticism of US military aid and arms sales to Israel during the war in Gaza.
Both former US President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump have maintained extensive military support for Israel since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, as the conflict spread across the region, including to a US-Israeli war with Iran.
That support has reportedly continued despite periodic US criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s military offensive in Gaza and disputes over compliance with a ceasefire reached last year and efforts to secure a lasting peace.
In September, the Trump administration said it planned to supply Israel with 2,000-pound bombs as part of another arms package. The Biden administration had paused deliveries of such weapons two years earlier over concerns about mass casualties in Gaza.
Israel’s onslaught in the Gaza Strip has since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas led an attack in southern Israel, killed more than 74,300 people, many of them women and children, according to the local health authority. In Lebanon, Israeli military operations across the south have killed at least 8,900 people since Oct. 8, 2023.