THE United States has spent at least $17.9 billion (£14bn) on military aid to Israel since the war in Gaza began, a record, according to a report for Brown University’s Costs of War project, released today.

The report on the level of US military aid comes as events were held in Israel and in other countries today to mark the anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 attacks on Israel.

An additional $4.86bn (£3.8bn) has gone into stepped-up US military operations in the region since the October 7 attacks, researchers said in their findings. 

The report is one of the first estimates of how much the US has spent to support Israel’s assaults on Gaza and Lebanon.

Since the report was completed, the US has also sent more troops to the region to support Israel if hostilities escalate with Iran, meaning the actual figures will be much higher.

The research was carried out by Professor Linda J Bilmes of Harvard’s John F Kennedy School of Government and researchers William D Hartung and Stephen Semler.

The researchers said that the $17.9bn (£15bn) estimate is partial because of the efforts of the Biden administration “to hide the full amounts of aid and types of systems through bureaucratic manoeuvring.”

The financial toll is on top of the cost in human lives.

During the Hamas-led attack last year 1,139 people were killed and another 250 taken hostage. Israel’s subsequent invasion has killed at least 42,000 people in Gaza, according to the territory’s Health Ministry.

At least 1,400 people in Lebanon, including Hezbollah fighters and civilians, have been killed since Israel greatly expanded its bombing of that country in late September.

Israelis flocked to ceremonies around the country today to remember the Israeli victims, the dozens of hostages still in captivity and soldiers killed in battle. 

Commemorations also took place across the world.

In Germany, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said to Germany’s “dear friends in Israel” that “we feel with you, we stand beside you.”

In Australia, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese attended a vigil in Melbourne, where he walked with members of the Jewish community and MPs from across party lines. Thousands attended the vigil.

The war in Gaza rages on with Israeli strikes on Lebanon today leaving a trail of destruction. At least 10 firefighters were killed in a municipal building in the southern town of Baraachit.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.