Washington DC - President Joe Biden has provisionally approved a new $680-million weapons sale to Israel amid the ongoing US-backed genocide in Gaza, according to media reports.

Sources close to the matter told the Financial Times that US officials in September briefed Congress on the plan to supply Israel with thousands of additional joint direct attack munition kits (JDAMs) and hundreds of small-diameter bombs.

The Wednesday report came as Israel and Hezbollah implement a ceasefire agreement to halt a string of brutal Israeli attacks on Lebanon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a Tuesday address said that one of the reasons for the ceasefire was to "give our forces a breather and replenish stocks."

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"I say it openly, it is no secret that there have been big delays in weapons and munitions deliveries," the far-right Israeli leader continued.

"These delays will be resolved soon. We will receive supplies of advanced weaponry that will keep our soldiers safe and give us more strike force to complete our mission."

Israel – with US arms and diplomatic cover – has slaughtered at least 44,282 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023, according to the territory's health ministry.

The British medical journal Lancet and other experts believe the true number to be far greater, upwards of 186,000 as of July 2024.

The US government has provided at least $22.76 billion in military aid to the Israeli regime since October 2023.

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A CBS poll in June found that 61% of Americans believe the US should not send weapons and supplies to Israel.

The White House had threatened to withhold military aid if Israel did not improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza, but ended up letting the November 13 deadline pass by without any consequences. The Biden-Harris administration claimed Israel is not obstructing humanitarian assistance – despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

The Senate last week rejected an effort led by Vermont Independent Bernie Sanders to restrict certain offensive weapons transfers to Israel.

The Palestinian people are experiencing immense suffering under relentless Israeli assault.

Conditions are especially grave in northern Gaza, which Israel has blocked from accessing humanitarian assistance since October 6.

The United Nations warned in October that the "entire population of northern Gaza is at risk of dying."

The non-profit Save the Children on Monday said more than 130,000 children under 10 years of age are trapped in northern Gaza, cut off from food and medical supplies.

The warning came on top of a Famine Review Committee report earlier this month which found that "famine thresholds may have already been crossed or else will be in the near future" in northern Gaza.

The International Criminal Court last week issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on accusations of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Last January, the International Court of Justice ruled there is a plausible case Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

Complicity in genocide is a punishable crime under the 1948 Genocide Convention, to which the US is a state party.