White House Urges Congress to Approve Tank Shell Supply for Israel’s Military Operations

The Biden administration has requested Congress to approve the sale of 45,000 shells for Israel’s Merkava tanks for use in its offensive against Hamas in Gaza, as reported by a U.S. official and a former U.S. official.

Despite concerns about the use of U.S. weapons in a war that has killed thousands of civilians in the Palestinian enclave since Israel reacted to an attack on Oct. 7 by Hamas militants, the potential sale is being considered. The sale is worth more than $500 million and is not part of President Joe Biden’s $110.5 billion supplemental request that includes funding for Ukraine and Israel. It is currently under informal review by the Senate Foreign Relations and House of Representatives Foreign Affairs committees.

The U.S. State Department is pushing the congressional committees to quickly approve the transaction, although objections from rights advocates over the use of U.S.-made weapons in the conflict persist. The administration is also considering using Arms Export Control Act (AECA) emergency authorities to allow a portion of the ammunition to bypass the committee and review period. Online images of the war show that Israel regularly deploys Merkava tanks in its Gaza offensive and on its southern border with Lebanon.

On Thursday, a Reuters investigation revealed that an Israeli tank crew killed Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah and wounded six reporters by firing two shells in quick succession from Israel while the journalists were filming cross-border shelling. Israel has sharply increased strikes on the Gaza Strip since a truce ended a week ago, killing hundreds in a new, expanded phase of the war. The U.S. is facing scrutiny for its military aid to Israel and how the weapons are used in the conflict.

Earlier this week, Amnesty International said US-made Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) were used by the Israeli military in air strikes on homes full of civilians, the first time a rights group has directly linked U.S. weapons to an attack that killed civilians. Gaza’s health ministry on Friday said the death toll from Israel’s campaign in Gaza had risen to 17,487, with thousands more missing and presumed buried under rubble. Israel launched the campaign to destroy Hamas after the group attacked Israeli towns in a surprise cross-border incursion on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 240 hostages.