[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4285 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4285

To amend the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 to 
improve cooperation between the United States and Israel on anti-tunnel 
                         defense capabilities.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 8, 2024

 Mr. Peters (for himself and Mr. Budd) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 to 
improve cooperation between the United States and Israel on anti-tunnel 
                         defense capabilities.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``United States-Israel Anti-Tunnel 
Cooperation Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Israel is an international leader in developing 
        innovative defense technologies, including by pioneering 
        efforts to map, detect, destroy, and maneuver through terror 
        tunnels.
            (2) Terrorist organizations on Israel's borders, such as 
        Hamas, Hezbollah, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), with 
        Iran's help, have constructed a labyrinth of subterranean 
        passages under the Gaza Strip and areas of southern Lebanon to 
        improve their military capabilities as well as to attack and 
        kidnap Israeli soldiers and civilians.
            (3) Since October 7, 2023, over 1,500 new terror tunnel 
        shafts, approximately 350 to 450 miles long, built under 
        hospitals, schools, and homes in Gaza have been discovered, 
        with over 5,700 entrance points.
            (4) In the Gaza Strip, Hamas intentionally uses civilians 
        as human shields by placing its underground tunnel network 
        beneath densely populated areas, connecting its terror 
        infrastructure to schools, hospitals, and mosques.
            (5) Tunnels in Gaza and Lebanon are used as underground 
        rocket manufacturing and launching sites, weapons caches, 
        bunkers, transportation networks, and command and control 
        centers.
            (6) United States and Israeli intelligence indicates that 
        Hamas's military leadership is both sheltering in the 
        subterranean tunnel network and using it to hold innocent 
        Israeli hostages.
            (7) The United States faces similar subterranean threats on 
        the Korean Peninsula, the southern border, and in various 
        theaters in the Middle East.
            (8) Israel shares its anti-tunnel technology with the 
        Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security, 
        which work to advance this technology further, enhancing the 
        United States' ability to deal with this growing threat on at 
        the border and around the world.
            (9) Since October 7, 2023, there is an increased need to 
        scale up bilateral cooperation on anti-tunneling efforts as a 
        reflection of the complexity of the subterranean terror reality 
        in Gaza revealed since the start of Israel's military campaign.
            (10) Such an increase in joint United States-Israel 
        cooperation will not only benefit Israel, but will also help 
        the United States and allies across the globe that face similar 
        challenges from subterranean tunnels.

SEC. 3. MODIFICATION OF ANNUAL LIMITATION ON AMOUNT AVAILABLE FOR 
              UNITED STATES-ISRAEL ANTI-TUNNEL COOPERATION.

    Section 1279(b)(4) of the National Defense Authorization Act for 
Fiscal Year 2016 (22 U.S.C. 8606 note) is amended by striking 
``$50,000,000'' and inserting ``$80,000,000''.
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