The US military has announced the sale of billions of dollars in missiles, bombs and other weapons to Israel in the past year, as Israel's war on the Gaza Strip continues.

Now, the Defense Ministry is also building aircraft facilities in Israel to accommodate U.S.-made refueling planes, according to newly released public contracting documents uncovered by The Intercept.

The project involves constructing new buildings and upgrading existing ones, including one or more hangars, warehouses and storage facilities, at an Israeli military base in southern Israel, according to Army Corps of Engineers documents. The construction stems from a nearly $1 billion contract awarded to defense giant Boeing in 2022 to supply Israel with four KC-46A Pegasus tanker aircraft to be delivered by the end of 2026. The purchase of the KC-46As is seen as a signal of Israel’s determination to increase its ability to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The Boeing KC-46A is the newest tanker aircraft being produced for the U.S. Air Force, replacing its two aging models. The new aircraft has been plagued by a myriad of problems, including problems with the remote vision system, which allows the crane operator to see the crane via a video feed. The aircraft has also become a financial burden, with losses of more than $7 billion.

For Israel, the new aircraft, purchased for $927 million (with US money), will replace the decades-old Boeing 707 passenger jets that the Israeli Air Force currently uses to refuel fighter jets in the air.

Last month, the Biden administration approved five major arms sales to Israel, including 50 F-15 fighter jets, tank ammunition, tactical vehicles, air-to-air missiles, and 50,000 mortar shells, among other equipment worth more than $20 billion. While technically “sales,” the cost of the weapons is largely paid for by the United States because Israel uses much of the congressionally approved military aid to buy American-made weapons.

Since last October, the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip has caused a humanitarian catastrophe, killing more than 41,000 Palestinians and wounding nearly 94,000, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Israel used American munitions in its strikes on Gaza that caused these massacres.

The KC-46A construction project, according to documents released Wednesday, includes “construction and adaptation of the KC-46’s aviation and maintenance infrastructure,” including the construction of five new concrete and steel structures, as well as the possibility of additional buildings and warehouses.

The Pentagon is no stranger to construction projects in Israel. Late last year, The Intercept revealed that the Defense Department had awarded a multimillion-dollar contract to build facilities for U.S. forces at a secret base it maintains deep in Israel’s Negev desert, just 20 miles from Gaza. The old U.S. base, known as Site 512, is a radar facility that monitors the skies for rocket attacks on Israel.

A recent investigation by The Intercept revealed that Site 512 is just one of more than 60 U.S. bases, garrisons or joint foreign installations in the Middle East.

These sites range from small combat outposts to massive air bases in 13 countries: Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.

At least 14 of those bases have been attacked in recent years, according to military records reviewed by the site. Since Oct. 17 of last year alone, a series of drone, rocket, mortar and short-range ballistic missile attacks have killed at least 145 Americans — troops and contractors — at regional sites. That includes the three service members killed in a January drone attack on Tower 22, a facility in Jordan. The Defense Department plans to award contracts for work on the KC-46A project in February 2025.