The U.S. State Department has formally notified Congress that it plans to move forward with more than $8 billion in arms sales to Israel, bypassing an informal review process that was still underway in a House committee.

The move came just two days after US President Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and said the US would “take over” the devastated Gaza Strip and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”

According to US media, the State Department officially notified Congress of its intention on Thursday. On the same day, the Pentagon issued two press releases, one saying it was selling Israel 3,000 Hellfire air-to-ground missiles worth $660 million, and the other saying it was sending bombs and guidance kits worth $6.75 billion.

The administration of former President Joe Biden gave Israel more than $20 billion in weapons between October 7, 2023, and mid-November 2024, according to the prestigious Brown University.

The Pentagon did not issue a press release for the artillery shell sale, which as a direct commercial sale did not require the department to issue a detailed statement. In total, the sales are worth more than $8 billion.

The Biden administration announced the $8 billion sale in early January, just before the end of his presidency, and then sent the entire package to the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for informal review. During that process, lawmakers can ask the State Department detailed questions about the sales before deciding whether to approve them. The two top Republicans on the committees gave their approval, and eventually the top Democratic senator did, too, but Rep. Gregory W. Meeks of New York, the committee’s top Democrat, decided to use the review process to ask more questions.

The State Department moved forward with the package after sitting in informal review for more than 20 days, the typical amount of time given to senior lawmakers to consider such cases.

The sales will almost certainly go ahead unimpeded, as Congress would need to muster a two-thirds vote in both houses to stop the orders.

Following the announcement that the sales would go ahead despite his suspension, Meeks sharply criticized what he described as an erosion of longstanding precedent, accusing the Trump administration of sidelining Congress in its decision to move forward with the arms transfer. “I continue to support Israel’s critical military needs in the face of a range of regional threats,” Meeks said in a statement. But his support, he made clear, was not unconditional. He engaged in what he called “close consultation” with administration officials on the sales, raising a number of concerns — only to find his inquiries met with silence. He said the administration had failed to provide meaningful documentation or justification for its decision.

The administration’s move to carry out the sales was legal, but Mr. Meeks said it showed “a blatant disregard for longstanding congressional privilege.” More than just a bureaucratic affront, he said, it was a fundamental challenge to the balance of power between the equal branches of government.

It is noteworthy that in 2019, during his first administration, Mr. Trump declared an “emergency” regarding Iran, allowing Mike Pompeo, then the secretary of state, to proceed with sending weapons to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia despite the fact that Congress was still raising questions about the weapons in the initial review process. Mr. Pompeo’s move led to an investigation by the State Department’s inspector general.

The notice was sent Thursday without declaring an emergency. In 2023, the Biden administration used a similar mechanism to circumvent congressional oversight of arms sales to Israel by invoking the same emergency provision.

Aside from the $8 billion package, Congress is reviewing Israel’s request for a license to buy 5,000 assault rifles from American gunmakers. The State Department could soon submit more assault rifle license applications to Congress for informal review. During the Biden administration, the State Department halted a license that would have allowed Israel to buy 24,000 American-made assault rifles that were known to be destined for settlers.