Emergency declaration used to sell $106.5m worth of ammo for Israel’s tanks as reports of fierce fighting in southern Gaza city of Khan Younis emerge
THE GUARDIAN
The Biden administration has used an emergency authority to allow the sale of about 14,000 tank shells to Israel without congressional review, the Pentagon said on Saturday.
The state department on Friday used an Arms Export Control Act emergency declaration for the tank rounds worth $106.5m for immediate delivery to Israel, the Pentagon said in a statement.
The shells are part of a bigger sale that was first reported by Reuters on Friday that the Biden administration is asking the US Congress to approve. The larger package is worth more than $500m and includes 45,000 shells for Israel’s Merkava tanks, regularly deployed in its offensive in Gaza, which has killed thousands of civilians.
As the war intensified, how and where exactly the American weapons are used in the conflict has come under more scrutiny, even though US officials say there are no plans to put conditions on military aid to Israel or to consider withholding some of it.
Rights advocates expressed concern over the sale, saying it doesn’t align with Washington’s effort to press Israel to minimise civilian casualties.
The US move came as Israeli forces continued to push on Sunday into southern Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of civilians have fled in search of shelter from bombardments and intense fighting with Hamas militants.
Aid groups sounded the alarm on the “apocalyptic” humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory, warning it is on the brink of being overwhelmed by disease and starvation.
Hamas, which runs Gaza, said on Sunday that Israel had launched a series of “very violent raids” targeting the southern city of Khan Younis and the road from there to Rafah, near the border with Egypt.
Sixty-two dead bodies had arrived at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, health authorities said.
A source close to Hamas and Palestinian militants Islamic Jihad told Agence France-Presse that both groups were involved in “fierce clashes” with Israeli forces on Sunday near Khan Younis. An AFP journalist reported strikes in the area.
In Gaza City in the Strip’s north, an Agence France-Presse journalist said thousands were sheltering in the al-Shifa hospital, which is no longer functioning and partly destroyed following an Israeli raid last month.
In central Gaza, Hamas health authorities said on Saturday that 71 dead bodies had arrived at the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah over 24 hours.
The deaths came as a study published by Israel’s Haaretz newspaper found Israel’s aerial bombing campaign in Gaza is the most indiscriminate in terms of civilian casualties in recent years. It found civilians made up 61% of Gaza’s deaths from the airstrikes – a higher proportion of civilian deaths than in all world conflicts in the 20th century, data suggested.
Meanwhile, a French frigate shot down two drones in the Red Sea that were heading towards it from the coast of Yemen, the French military said on Sunday.
“The interception and destruction of these two identified threats” were carried out late on Saturday by the frigate Languedoc, which operates in the Red Sea, the general staff said in a press release.
The interceptions happened at 2030 GMT and 2230 GMT, it added, and were 110km (68 miles) from the Yemeni coast.
