TEHRAN- The US decision to send a $1 billion package of military aid to Israel is indicative of Washington’s long-term commitment to supplying Tel Aviv with weaponry regardless of the atrocious crimes that the regime is committing in the Gaza Strip.

According to the Associated Press, the package would include $700 million in tank ammunition, $500 million in tactical vehicles and $60 million in mortar rounds. 
Citing two unnamed American officials, Reuters said on Tuesday that the US Department of State has moved the package into the congressional review process.

This comes a week after President Joe Biden paused one shipment of “high payload munitions” to Israel over concerns about the regime’s planned offensive in Rafah.

Israel has expanded its offensive in Rafah despite US warnings and global concerns over rising civilian deaths in the Gaza Strip’s southernmost city. 

Since May 6, Israel has moved deeper into Rafah and forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee the city.  

Over the past months, US officials have publicly criticized Israel for high civilian casualties in Gaza.

More than 35,200 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched war on the territory following Hamas’ surprise military operation in southern Israel on October 7.

Nonetheless, the US plan to send a new batch of weapons to Israel highlights the fact that Washington seeks to perpetuate the Gaza war despite expressing concerns over civilian casualties in the small territory. 

The plan also comes as a recent State Department report found that Israeli forces likely used US-supplied weapons in a manner “inconsistent” with international law. 

For now, the US move to pause an arms shipment and then go ahead with sending another brings to light Washington’s hypocritical policy which could be analyzed from two angles. 

First, the Biden administration has been under pressure from pro-Palestine groups in the US over its support for Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. Arab American voters and the young who can play a key role in helping Biden in his bid for re-election are dissatisfied with his handling of the Gaza war. 

They have demanded a shift in the US policy toward Israel. Recent college campus protests at American universities clearly demonstrate discontent over the White House’s backing for Israel. 

So, the US decision to pause an arms shipment is aimed at appeasing anti-war groups that could determine the fate of the upcoming presidential election. 

On the other hand, Biden is under pressure from Republicans and pro-Israel lobbies for withholding shipments of weapons to the regime.  Republican lawmakers in Congress have introduced legislation to prevent any further pauses in weapons shipments to Israel. This could justify a U-turn by the Biden administration over supplying arms to Israel. 

Undoubtedly, a large number of Palestinian civilians have been killed by US weapons in the Gaza Strip over the past seven months. 

 The US decision to supply more weapons to Israel amounts to giving a license to the regime to slaughter more civilians. 

Nonetheless, continued arms supplies to Israel show that the United States’ ironclad support for the regime is a priority even if it perpetrates massacre after massacre in the Palestinian territory.