How the US Funded Israel’s Wars in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran

Israel could not have sustained its wars across the Middle East without more than $21 billion in financial support from the United States since October 2023, according to two new reports.

The studies, published by the Costs of War Project at Brown University, concluded that without US funding and weapon supplies, Israel would not have been able to maintain its devastating war in Gaza, initiate conflict with Iran, or repeatedly strike Yemen.

Experts also echoed these findings, noting that Israel’s military campaigns in Gaza and beyond were only possible due to consistent US financial and diplomatic backing.

“US support for Israel at every level is indispensable to the continuation of Israel’s war in Gaza and across the region,” said Omar H Rahman, a fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, in an interview with Al Jazeera.

Israel’s assault on Gaza alone has killed at least 67,160 people and wounded another 169,679 since October 2023. Thousands remain trapped beneath the rubble, while Israeli strikes have also killed dozens in Yemen and more than 1,000 people during an attack on Iran in June.

Israel’s War Machine Depends on US Financing

Two years ago, a Hamas-led assault on Israel killed 1,139 people and took more than 200 hostages. In response, Israel launched a massive campaign in Gaza and expanded its military operations across the region.

It intensified raids in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem; killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon while destroying entire villages; invaded parts of Lebanon and Syria; bombed Iran’s consulate in Damascus; fought a 12-day war with Iran; and exchanged fire with Yemen’s Houthis.

Researchers concluded that Israel could not have sustained these operations without continuous US support.

“Given the scale of current and future spending, it is clear that the Israeli military could not have caused such widespread destruction in Gaza or escalated its activities throughout the region without US financing, weapons, and political backing,” stated the report US Military Aid and Arms Transfers to Israel, October 2023–September 2025, authored by William D. Hartung, a senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.

Hartung’s report was jointly released by the Costs of War Project and the Quincy Institute, which advocates for shifting US foreign policy away from “endless war” toward diplomacy and restraint.

Bipartisan Endorsement of Israel

For decades, Israel has been the United States’ closest ally and largest recipient of foreign aid—receiving around $3.3 billion annually and more than $150 billion cumulatively as of 2022.

Despite changes in administration, US support for Israel has remained unwavering. Hartung’s report highlights that both the Biden and Trump administrations committed tens of billions of dollars in arms sales, with payments and deliveries continuing for years.

“This bipartisan support has allowed a country that has repeatedly violated international law to operate with the backing of the democratic West, without facing meaningful accountability in political or social spheres,” Rahman noted.

The US Always Finds Billions for Israel

Analysts warn that this deep-seated support could have serious political repercussions within the United States.

“Some former Biden administration officials may think they can avoid confronting this, but they’re living in a fantasy,” said Matt Duss, executive vice president at the Center for International Policy in Washington, DC.

“I don’t think any Democrat can win a primary in 2028 without acknowledging that the Biden administration helped enable and sustain a genocide,” he added.

Amid growing domestic criticism of Israel’s actions in the Middle East, experts say the staggering figures revealed by the Costs of War reports could intensify public anger over how US tax dollars are being spent.