The United States has spent at least $1.79 billion in military aid to Israel since the war in Gaza began. A report by Brown University's Cost of War Project came out on the anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel. The war in Gaza has escalated conflicts across the Middle East.

An additional $4.86 billion has been spent to bolster U.S. military operations in the region since the Oct. 7 attack last year, researchers first reported to The Associated Press.

This includes the cost of the US Navy-led operation against Yemen's Houthis. The Houthis, in solidarity with Iran-backed group Hamas, have attacked commercial ships in the Red Sea.

The announcement comes ahead of Israel's offensive against Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon in late September. Here is a preliminary estimate of the cost of the United States.

The Biden administration supports Israel in its conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon and is trying to contain violence by armed groups allied with Iran in those regions.

The financial cost is staggering: Hamas killed nearly 1,200 people in Israel a year ago and took others hostage in Gaza. On the other hand, about 42,000 people have been killed in Gaza by Israel's counterattack, according to the Ministry of Health of the region.

At least 1,400 people, including Hezbollah fighters and civilians, have been killed since Israel ramped up its offensive in Lebanon in late September.

Linda J. Bilmes, a professor at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and her fellow researchers William D. Hartung and Stephen Semler calculated the financial cost of the war.

Here's a look at where some of America's taxpayer money is being spent:

Record military aid to Israel

Since its founding in 1948, Israel has received the largest amount of US military aid in history. According to the report, the amount of money given to Israel since 1959, adding inflation, would be $25,120 million.

But even then, military aid to Israel from October 7, 2023 was the highest in a single year, at an inflation-adjusted $1.79 billion.

The U.S. pledged hundreds of billions of dollars in military aid to Israel and Egypt each year during the U.S.-brokered 1979 peace accords, and the Obama administration pledged $3.8 billion annually to Israel through 2028 in an agreement.

U.S. aid since the start of the Gaza war has included military financing, arms sales, at least $4.4 billion in U.S. supplies and used military equipment.

Most of the munitions supplied by the US this year ranged from ammunition, artillery shells to 2,000-pound bunker-busters and precision-guided bombs.

According to the study, $4 billion was spent on Israel's Iron Dome and David's Sling missile defense systems, to oil for rifles and fighter jets.

US military aid to Ukraine is publicly documented, researchers say. But on the other hand, it is impossible to get the full details of what the US has sent to Israel since October 7. That's why the $1,790 million for the year is only a partial figure.

They cited the Biden administration's "efforts to hide the full amount of aid and what kind of system it is through bureaucratic tactics."

A war that has caused massive civilian casualties has divided Americans during the presidential campaign over financial aid to America's main ally in the war. But support for Israel has always played an important role in US politics, and Biden said on Friday, "No administration has supported Israel more than mine."

US military operations in the Middle East

Since the start of the war in Gaza, the Biden administration has ramped up military forces in the region, aimed at preventing and countering any attacks on Israeli and American forces.

At least $4.86 billion has been spent on these additional operations, the report said, but that does not include money to bolster military support for Egypt and other partners in the region.

The US military presence in the Middle East was 34,000 on the day Hamas broke through the Israeli fence around Gaza.

Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an attack in Iran blamed on Israel. In response to that attack, two aircraft carriers were in the area in August to discourage counterattacks, and troop numbers rose to about 50,000. Now the total number is about 43 thousand.

The number of ships and aircraft deployed in the Mediterranean, Red Sea and Gulf of Aden by US aircraft carrier strike groups, amphibious ready groups, fighter squadrons and air defense batteries fluctuated throughout the year.

The Pentagon said it was sending another carrier strike group to Europe soon, and that the troop numbers could increase again if two warships were in the region at the same time.