US Secretary of State Antony Blinken used emergency authority to approve the sale of $147.5 million of 155 mm artillery shells to Israel on 30 December, bypassing the standard congressional review for arms sales for the second time since the start of the war on Gaza.

A State Department spokesman said on Friday that "given the urgency of Israel's defensive needs, the secretary notified Congress that he had exercised his delegated authority to determine an emergency existed necessitating the immediate approval of the transfer."

Earlier this month, Blinken used the same emergency process to approve the sale of 14,000 tank shells, worth more than $106 million, to Israel.

The emergency sale of artillery shells comes as Israel's military intensifies its bombing campaign in Gaza.

Earlier this week, on Christmas Eve, Israeli forces bombed the Meghazi camp, killing 86 Palestinians in one strike. 

Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy excused the death toll by telling Sky News the army had used an "incorrect munition."