The United States agrees to sell about 14,000 tank shells to Israel on an emergency basis

The administration of US President Joe Biden approved an emergency sale of about 14,000 tank shells to Israel by circumventing Congress.

The rare move to bypass Congress to sell tank shells worth $106.5 million was criticized amid the heavy Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip, which killed more than 17,700 people in two months.

The sale of M830A1 high-explosive multi-purpose tank shells with tracking (MPAT) system and related equipment comes as Biden's request for a roughly $106 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other countries is up for debate over US immigration policy and border security.

The State Department said it notified Congress of the sale late Friday after Secretary of State Antony Blinken determined in a declaration that “an emergency exists that requires the immediate sale” of the munitions in the interest of US national security, waiving the requirement to consult Congress under the Arms Export Control Act.

On Wednesday, Republican senators blocked the approval of an emergency aid package worth $106 billion for Ukraine and Israel because it did not include immigration reforms.

The package includes military aid to Ukraine worth about $60 billion and about ten billion to Israel in its conflict with Hamas, as well as aid to Taiwan.

As the death toll in Gaza continues to rise, Democrats are urging Israel to make its attacks against Hamas more targeted and limit civilian casualties. 

Two Palestinian bodies revealed that the Israeli authorities are detaining 142 Palestinian women, including infants and elderly women from the Gaza Strip, who were arrested during the ground invasion that began on October 27.

The Israeli occupation authorities detained 142 Palestinian women, including infants and elderly women from the Gaza Strip, who were arrested during the ground invasion that began on October 27.

A joint statement by the Prisoners' Affairs Authority of the PLO and the Palestinian Prisoners' Club said that the Israeli authorities "are detaining 142 women and girls prisoners from Gaza in their prisons."

According to the data available in the statement, the female prisoners are being held in several prisons, including Damon and Hasharon prisons.

In a previous statement, the two bodies said, “The Israeli occupation is carrying out horrific and horrific crimes against Gaza detainees, in addition to its refusal to reveal their fate, in terms of their numbers, places of detention, and health condition.”

The statement pointed to "fears about the fate of the prisoners in light of the shocking and horrific images and testimonies that came out from citizens who were arrested from Gaza recently, and we do not rule out that the occupation will carry out field executions against detainees from Gaza."

At the end of last November, the Israeli Prisons Administration announced the presence of 260 detainees from Gaza, whom it classified as “unlawful combatants.”