Bipartisan members of the Senate Armed Services Committee sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday requesting more Iron Dome batteries for Israel.
The letter was Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Sen. Rick Scott, R-S.C., Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., and Sen. Michael Rounds, R-S.D.
The letter read: "While we appreciate the Department of Defense has announced that it will rapidly provide Israel with equipment and munitions, and that discussions are underway to resupply Israel with Iron Dome interceptors, we also understand that Israel may urgently require additional missile defense capacity to protect its citizens and territory, including new Iron Dome batteries.
"As you know, the United States Army is currently in possession of two Iron Dome batteries that have not been deployed and have no operational use inside the United States where they are currently stored."
The committee members said that transferring these two batteries to Israel, in addition to other "defensive assets," would provide "tangible, life-saving, and sustained support" to prevent Israel from being "overwhelmed" by rocket and missile salvos from Hamas in Gaza.
"I've joined a bipartisan letter with [Sens. Rosen, Scott, and Rounds] to Secretary Austin requesting that the Department of Defense transfer two Iron Dome batteries to Israel, as well as additional unused military assets," Gillibrand said in a social media post including the letter on Wednesday.
The Washington Examiner reported Thursday that the anti-missile system has been heavily used since the massive Hamas attack on Oct. 7 that has launched thousands of rockets from Gaza into Israel and killed more than 1,000 Israelis and at least 22 Americans.
Hamas forces have also kidnapped more than 100 Israelis and other civilians, possibly including Americans to be used as hostages, the report said.
In the letter, the Senators asked Austin to respond to the request by Friday.
Newser reported Wednesday that Israel currently has 10 Iron Dome batteries scattered throughout the country to take out incoming rockets and missiles.
According to the report, the system uses radar to estimate an incoming missile's speed and trajectory to fire an interceptor missile to destroy it in the sky.
Each individual battery contains three or four launchers, each holding up to 20 interceptor missiles.
The report said that the massive amount of rockets launched at Israel could be designed to use up their current interceptor missile inventory, leaving them vulnerable for future attacks if the munitions are not replenished.
Charles Kim ✉
Charles Kim, a Newsmax general assignment writer, is an award-winning journalist with more than 30 years in reporting on news and politics.
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