With increasing calls among critics of Israel worldwide to limit arms sales to the Jewish state due to the ongoing war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, data released in recent days shows that nearly all Israeli arms imports come from companies in the United States and Germany.

According to a 2023 report issued by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which studies conflicts and weapons, 69 percent of Israeli arms purchases come from American companies, 30% from Germany, and 0.9% from Italy.

"By the end of 2023, the United States rapidly delivered thousands of bombs and guided missiles to Israel, but the total volume of Israeli arms imports from the United States in 2023 was almost the same as in 2022.

By the end of 2023, the pending arms deliveries to Israel included 61 fighter jets from the United States and 4 submarines from Germany.

Regarding guided bombs, the report pointed to bomb conversion kits for turning simple bombs into precision weapons, through systems such as the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), manufactured by American companies, as Israel does not produce such systems itself.

The SIPRI report, according to The Times of Israel, stated that U.S. sales of fighter aircraft to Israel over recent decades played a “key role in Israel's military operations against Hamas and Hezbollah.”

All current manned aircraft of the Israeli Air Force are American-made, except for one helicopter made by Airbus Helicopters in France.

As a result, Israel relies heavily on other countries for many components in warplanes, helicopters, warships, and submarines, because foreign manufacturers generally do not allow separation between the core product and installed systems, except for local modifications for mobility and software matching.

While constituting a much smaller part of total imports, other countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada, and the Netherlands supply Israel with critical aircraft components. Israel also imports other materials used for military purposes from various other countries.

Last week, Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly announced that Ottawa had halted arms exports to Israel due to the military assault in the Gaza Strip aimed at eliminating Hamas, following the October 7 attack. The war has sparked a severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza, with relief agencies warning of an imminent famine in the strip without a continuous flow of aid.

Earlier this month, U.S. officials told Politico that President Joe Biden would consider placing conditions on future military aid to Israel if its planned lull against the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, where over a million Palestinians live, proceeds, and in a Sunday interview, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris did not rule out consequences for Israel if it insisted on the assault.

Israel said it cannot achieve victory in the war without addressing Hamas’s four remaining brigades in Rafah, while the international community is deeply concerned about the massive harm to civilians seeking refuge in the city; Tel Aviv said it had prepared a plan to evacuate it.

Progressives in Washington, including U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, have called for a halt to arms exports to Israel, and the European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell urged countries to stop sending weapons.

Italy announced in January that it had stopped exports at the start of the war, and a Dutch court ruled last month that the Netherlands must stop delivering U.S.-owned parts for the F-35 fighter jets to Israel.

The SIPRI study ranked Israel fifteenth among the top arms importers in the world, receiving 2.1% of all imports, according to globally available data from 2019-2023. It also reported that Israel ranked ninth in global arms exports, responsible for 2.4% of exports.

The institute noted that not all information regarding arms trade is transparent, especially on the Israeli side, and thus some data about purchases and sales may be missing in the report.

The study found that Israel and Germany somewhat depend on exchange, as Berlin imports 16% of its arms from the Jewish state—its second largest supplier. SIPRI highlighted Germany’s purchase of the long-range air defense system last year as an expression of this relationship. Meanwhile, Israel is the third largest destination for Germany’s military exports, receiving 12% of exports—behind Ukraine (12%) and Egypt (20%).

Israel is the destination for only 3.6% of U.S. exports, behind Kuwait (4.5%), Qatar (8.2%), Japan (9.5%), and Saudi Arabia (15%).

Israel's best military supplies client is India, which takes a share of 37% of Israeli exports, followed by the Philippines (12%) and the United States (8.7%), according to the research.

SIPRI, a research institute founded in 1966, provides data, analysis, and recommendations on issues related to global security.