President Biden is planning to send another $1 billion worth of arms to Israel, according to a congressional source, moving ahead with weapons support for the nation in the war against Hamas — even as he is holding up high-payload bombs over concerns about their use in Gaza.
The latest package for Israel is expected to include tank rounds, tactical vehicles and artillery rounds.
Biden is still holding up 3,500 bombs that weigh 2,000 pounds and 500 pounds, which the president has expressed concerns with providing to Israel because of their potential use in the densely populated city of Rafah.
Israel has evacuated more than 300,000 people from Rafah, a city in southern Gaza, and is conducting limited operations in the eastern part of the city, where Israeli officials claim Hamas is hiding its last remaining battalions.
Biden has threatened to withhold offensive weapons if Israel launches a major attack on the city, where more than a million Palestinians are sheltering from the war. Northern Gaza is already under a full-blown famine, according to the United Nations, and the rest of the territory is facing a dire humanitarian crisis that is likely to be made worse by a Rafah invasion.
Biden has struggled to address the war in Gaza, where more than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed, especially as pro-Palestinian domestic protests grow over the war, particularly across college campuses.
While his administration has indicated support for Israel’s defense against Hamas, which invaded southern Israel on Oct. 7 and killed some 1,200 people and took around 250 hostages, U.S. officials are also concerned about the high death toll in Gaza.
Still, Biden has approved multiple packages of lethal aid for Israel since the war began and last month signed into law $26 billion for the country.