Trump says US military aid to Israel ends this year after Netanyahu deal

Donald Trump says the payments to Israel stop at the end of this year. In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, the US president said he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu struck the deal months ago, and that Washington would not keep sending military aid once the year is out. Trump put the figure at $4 billion a year, telling the network: 'We've already agreed that by the end of this year we won't be paying Israel.'

His stated reasons: Israel doesn't need the cash anymore, and Democrats and left-wing politicians were using the funding as a stick to beat Republicans with. Trump didn't slam the door completely — he said the US will still help Israel if it needs it, calling the country a regional partner in a 'tremendous relationship,' with Israel cast as the junior half of the pair.

He also had Iran on his mind. Trump said he isn't 'looking to kill lots of people' there, but warned Washington will act decisively when it has to, saying: 'If we have to, we'll have to.' He confirmed US forces hit an anti-aircraft facility on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, describing Monday's strike as a 'minor attack' and dialing down talk of a fresh, large-scale confrontation.

The numbers behind the announcement are enormous. Israel has been the biggest cumulative recipient of US foreign assistance since World War II, pulling in almost $175 billion in bilateral assistance and missile defense funding — more than any other country over the same stretch. Under the 2019-2028 Memorandum of Understanding signed in the Obama years, the US sends $3.8 billion a year: $3.3 billion in foreign military financing plus $500 million for missile defense.

On top of that annual cheque, at least $21.7 billion in direct military aid has flowed to Israel since October 7, 2023, according to Brown University's Costs of War Project. That tally covers October 2023 through September 2025 and takes in foreign military financing, missile defense, ammunition replenishment and emergency transfers made under both the Biden and Trump administrations.

The human cost has kept climbing. Gaza's health ministry says more than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 175,000 wounded since October 2023, with roughly 90 percent of the enclave's civilian infrastructure destroyed. The ministry also reports that 1,580 Palestinians have been killed and 5,711 wounded in ceasefire violations since October 10, 2025.