The US State Department transmitted an emergency declaration to lawmakers late Friday night for the sale of thousands of munitions to Israel, the agency announced, bypassing the standard 20-day period that congressional committees are typically afforded to review such a sale.

The declaration followed a request by the State Department earlier in the week for Congress to approve the sale of 45,000 shells to Israel for its Merkava tanks. A source with direct knowledge of the matter told CNN that the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which have oversight over military sales, had been under “pressure” from the State Department to approve the request quickly amid Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

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