Key Democrats approve major US arms sale to Israel

Two key Democrats in the US Congress signed off on a major arms sale to Israel that includes 50 F-15 fighter jets worth more than $18 billion.

Citing three unnamed US officials, it said Representative Gregory Meeks and Senator Ben Cardin agreed to support the deal under heavy pressure from the Biden administration, Anadolu Agency reports.

Meeks told the Post that he had been in close contact with the White House about the package and urged the administration to push Israel over humanitarian efforts and civilian casualties. According to the paper, he said the F-15s will be delivered "years from now."

Cardin's spokesman said the sale went through the "regular review processes."

"Any issues or concerns Chair Cardin had were addressed through our ongoing consultations with the Administration, and that’s why he felt it appropriate to allow this case to move forward," Eric Harris, the communications director for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was quoted as saying by the Post.

In early May, President Joe Biden paused the delivery of a weapons shipment that included 2,000-pound bombs which Israel previously used to flatten wide swathes of Gaza. His decision to halt the shipment was made due to his concerns over Israel's planned invasion of the southern city of Rafah.

Biden said an invasion of Rafah would cross a "red line," but senior US officials were quick to backtrack on those remarks, saying the president did not set any "red lines" for Israel as it carries out its offensive.

Biden has faced a wave of protests nationwide regarding his handling of the Gaza conflict.

Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas.

More than 37,300 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and over 85,000 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Over eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.