US weapons meant to help Ukrainian forces fight Russia have reportedly been ‘diverted’ to aid Israel’s war on Hamas.
The Pentagon is said to have ordered the stocks from US military reserves be sent to the Middle East rather than Ukraine in a bid to support both conflicts.
President Biden told the world last night in an address from the Oval Office that the United States could aid both Israel and Ukraine as he sought to be granted billions from Congress today.
In his speech from the White House the 80-year-old said both Hamas terrorists and Putin’s Russian wanted to “annihilate a neighbouring democracy”.
He said: “We cannot and will not let terrorists like Hamas and tyrants like Putin win. I refuse to let that happen.”
President Biden’s stirring call to action has reportedly already been bearing fruit for Israeli forces with officials telling the publication Axios “thousands of 155mm artillery shells that had been destined for Ukraine from US emergency stocks” will now go to Israel.
The US leader said he was sending an “urgent budget request” thought to be around £87billion to Congress on Friday, to cover emergency military aid to both Israel and Ukraine.
In Ukraine, Russia has launched a fresh offensive in the eastern Donetsk region of the country after President Putin met with a top general just 60 miles from the border last night.
Ukrainian forces have so far held firm in the city of Avdiivka despite increased Russian attacks. President Zelenskyy said on X (formerly Twitter) last night he was “grateful to Mr. President, both parties of the US Congress, and the entire American people for their powerful assistance and leadership”.
In Gaza the Health Ministry said 3,785 people have been killed since the war began, the majority women, children and older adults. Nearly 12,500 were injured, and another 1,300 people were believed buried under rubble, authorities said.
More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, mostly civilians slain during Hamas’ deadly terrorist attack. Roughly 200 others were abducted. The Israeli military said Thursday it had notified the families of 203 captives.
In a fiery speech on Thursday to Israeli infantry soldiers on the Gaza border, Gallant, the defense minister, urged them to “be ready” to move in. Israel has called up some 360,000 reserves and massed tens of thousands of troops along the Gaza border.
“Whoever sees Gaza from afar now, will see it from the inside,” he said. “It might take a week, a month, two months until we destroy them,” he added, referring to Hamas.
