The Biden administration has told Congress it plans to send a $1bn package of military aid to Israel despite US opposition to the Israeli military’s plans for a full assault on Rafah, the city in southern Gaza.
The move by the White House comes after the US paused one shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel over concerns about their use in densely populated areas of Gaza, which risks further increasing the Palestinian civilian death toll.
While that step marked the first time Biden had withheld weapons in an effort to restrain Israel’s military conduct since the war with Hamas began in October, the $1bn package in the works shows that Washington is not seeking to restrict its arms supply to Israel more broadly.