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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama signed a bill Monday granting an additional $225 million in U.S. taxpayer dollars for Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system.
The defense system has been highly effective in the current round of violence between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. It allows Israel's military to shoot down incoming rockets or mortars headed toward major population centers in Israel. Israeli officials say it has a success rate as high as 90 percent.
The U.S. has provided hundreds of millions of dollars for Iron Dome in the past. The new package is intended to replenish Israel's capabilities.
Congress approved the money last week before lawmakers left for their annual summer break. Obama signed the bill in the late afternoon in the Oval Office with a handful of photographers present.
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