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In conjunction with an American position using veto (Veto) against a draft resolution in Security Council International ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, requested by the administration of the US President joe biden from Congress Approval of selling tank shells to Israel.
Reuters quoted a current and former American official as saying that the Biden administration asked Congress to approve the sale of 45,000 shells for Israeli Merkava tanks for use in fighting the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (agitation) in Gaza stripAccording to him,
The request comes in light of American strictness in not agreeing to a ceasefire in Gaza, and the United States’ use of its veto power against a draft resolution in this regard in the Security Council, despite the support of 13 members and one country abstaining from voting.
The request also comes amid growing concerns about the use of American weapons in the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, which has claimed the lives of thousands of civilians since the seventh of last October.
The potential deal is worth more than $500 million, and this is not part of President Joe Biden’s $110.5 billion supplemental request that includes financing for Ukraine and Israel. The process is subject to informal review by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
An American official and former State Department spokesman, Josh Ball, said that the State Department is pressuring the two congressional committees to quickly approve the deal in the face of objections from human rights defenders related to the use of American-made weapons in war.
According to Reuters, Paul said that this matter was presented to the two committees earlier this week and they were supposed to have 20 days to review Israeli issues. But the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is demanding that they approve the deal now.
The agency indicated that it was unable to determine the reason for the Foreign Ministry’s pressure to approve the deal quickly.
The US official also said that the Biden administration is also considering using emergency powers under the Arms Export Control Law with the aim of allowing the export of a portion of ammunition estimated at about 13,000 shells, in bypassing the committee and the review period.
Earlier this week, Amnesty International said the Israeli military used US-made “joint direct attack munitions” in two air strikes on homes crowded with civilians, marking the first time a rights group has directly linked US weapons to an attack that killed civilians.
Since last October 7, the Israeli army has launched a devastating aggression against the Gaza Strip, leaving 17,487 martyrs and 46,480 wounded, most of them children and women, massive infrastructure destruction, and an unprecedented humanitarian disaster, according to official Palestinian and UN sources.
