The United States on Tuesday approved the sale of $20 billion in fighter jets and other military equipment to Israel as it prosecutes a 10-month-old war in the Gaza Strip although the Pentagon said deliveries would not begin for years, Reuters reported.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken approved the sale of F-15 jets and equipment worth nearly $19 billion along with tank cartridges valued at $774 million, explosive mortar cartridges valued at over $60 million and army vehicles worth $583 million, the Pentagon said in a statement.

The Boeing Co (BA.N), opens new tab F-15 fighter jets were expected to take years to produce, and deliveries were expected to begin in 2029. Other equipment would begin delivery in 2026, according to the Pentagon.

An expert on the process said some deliveries could be even earlier than 2026.

“The United States is committed to the security of Israel, and it is vital to U.S. national interests to assist Israel to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defense capability,” the Pentagon said.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, in a post on X, thanked U.S. officials for helping Israel maintain “its qualitative military edge in the region” and the U.S. commitment to Israel’s security, read the report.

The U.S., Israel’s biggest ally and weapons supplier, has sent Israel more than 10,000 highly destructive 2,000-pound bombs and thousands of Hellfire missiles since the start of the Gaza war in October, U.S. officials told Reuters in June.

The war has devastated Gaza and resulted in a heavy civilian death toll. Hoping to avert a wider Middle East war, Washington has sought with other regional mediators to arrange a ceasefire.

President Joe Biden laid out a three-phase Gaza ceasefire proposal on May 31. But efforts have so far been unsuccessful in bringing it to fruition.

The latest bloodshed in the decades old Israeli-Palestinian conflict began when Palestinian Islamist group Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s subsequent assault on the Hamas-governed enclave has killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry. It has also displaced nearly the entire population of 2.3 million, caused a hunger crisis and led to genocide allegations at the World Court that Israel denies.

Washington has faced mounting domestic and international criticism for its military support for Israel, Reuters reported.

The U.S. expects Gaza peace talks to move forward as planned, the State Department said on Monday, adding it believes a ceasefire deal remains possible even after Hamas cast doubt on whether it would participate in a Thursday meeting called by mediators, Reuters reported.

Palestinian militant group Hamas on Sunday asked mediators to present a plan based upon previous talks instead of engaging in new negotiations for a Gaza ceasefire agreement.

Last week, leaders of the U.S., Egypt and Qatar urged Israel and Hamas to meet for negotiations on Aug. 15 in either Cairo or Doha to finalize a Gaza ceasefire and hostage-release deal.

State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel, speaking to reporters at a regular news briefing, said the U.S. fully expects talks to continue and it would continue to work with the parties involved, adding that agreement was still possible.

“We fully expect talks to move forward, as they should. All negotiators should return to the table and bring this deal to conclusion,” Patel said.

Patel declined to say if the talks would go ahead without Hamas or whether Washington was working with regional partners to ensure their participation or not.

President Joe Biden laid out a three-phase ceasefire proposal in an address on May 31. Washington and regional mediators have since tried arranging the Gaza ceasefire-for-hostages deal but have run into repeated obstacles, read the report.

Israel launched its assault on Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and capturing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, nearly 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza, according to the health ministry, Reuters reported.

Moscow and Kyiv accused each other of starting a fire on the grounds of Europe’s largest and now Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine on Sunday, with both sides reporting no sign of elevated radiation.

The U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) nuclear watchdog, which has a presence at the vast six-reactor facility, said its experts had seen strong, dark smoke coming from the northern area of the plant in southern Ukraine following multiple explosions.

“These reckless attacks endanger nuclear safety at the plant and increase the risk of a nuclear accident. They must stop now,” IAEA chief Rafael Grossi warned in a separate statement, without attributing blame for the attack.

The fire comes less than a week after Ukraine’s forces launched their largest incursion into Russian territory since the war-start in 2022, a surprise move that has brought conflict into a new phase, after weeks of Moscow’s battlefield gains.

Russian state news agencies, TASS and RIA, cited the country’s nuclear energy company Rosatom as saying the main fire was extinguished shortly before midnight on Sunday.

RIA, citing Rosatom, said a drone attack started the fire at the cooling tower, without providing evidence.

Ukraine’s nuclear power company Energoatom said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app that one of the cooling towers and other equipment were damaged.

Russia’s TASS agency also reported, citing Rosatom’s statement, that a cooling tower was damaged. Citing local Russian emergency ministry representatives, TASS said it was a non-functioning tower.

Grossi said the agency requested “immediate access” to the cooling tower to assess the damage. There was no immediate response from Moscow or Kyiv to Grossi’s statement.

Russia captured the plant from Ukraine shortly after launching its full-scale invasion on its smaller neighbour in 2022, an attack described by Moscow as a “special operation”. The plant’s six nuclear reactors are in cold shutdown.

By early Monday, it was not clear what caused the fire that started at around 8 p.m. (1700 GMT) on Sunday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Russia of lighting the fire which he said was visible from the Kyiv-held city of Nikopol, which looks out onto the Russian-held plant.

The IAEA said there had been no reported impact on nuclear safety at the site.

“Team was told by (the nuclear plant) of an alleged drone attack today on one of the cooling towers located at the site,” it wrote on X.

Ukraine’s Energoatom said Russia’s “negligence” or arson could have sparked the fire. Without providing evidence, it also said Russia uses the plant’s cooling towers to store military equipment and explosives.

Russia’s officials in turn, including Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, accused Kyiv of deliberately trying to destroy the plant and sow “nuclear terror.”

Zelenskiy published grainy video showing belching black smoke that appeared to be coming out a cooling tower with a blaze burning at its foot.

“Currently, the radiation indicators are normal. But as long as Russian terrorists retain control over the nuclear plant, the situation is not and cannot be normal,” he said.

The six reactors at the plant located close to the front line of the war in Ukraine are not in operation but the facility relies on external power to keep its nuclear material cool and prevent a catastrophic accident.

Moscow and Kyiv have routinely accused each other of endangering safety around it. – Reuters