Under pressure from the Biden administration, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) approved the multibillion-dollar sale despite lingering concerns about the death toll in Gaza.

Two key Democratic holdouts in the House and Senate signed off on a major arms sale to Israel, including 50 F-15 fighter jets worth more than $18 billion, after facing intense pressure from the Biden administration and pro-Israel advocates to allow the transaction to move forward, said three U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

The decision, which has not been previously reported, underscores the substantial appetite in Washington to continue the flow of arms to Israel despite concerns from younger members of Congress that the United States should use its leverage to pressure Israel to reduce the intensity of the war and allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza.

This spring, Rep. Gregory W. Meeks (N.Y.), the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, publicly vowed to hold up the arms package unless he received assurances from the administration about how the warplanes and munitions would be used in Gaza, where more than 37,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to local health authorities. Besides the F-15s, which are not scheduled to arrive in Israel for years, the administration sought sign-off on air-to-air missiles and Joint Direct Attack Munition kits, which retrofit unguided bombs with precision guidance.

“I don’t want the kinds of weapons that Israel has to be utilized to have more deaths,” Meeks told CNN in April. “I want to make sure that humanitarian aid gets in. I don’t want people starving to death, and I want Hamas to release the hostages. And I want a two-state solution.”

After months of holding up the arms sale, Meeks and Sen. Ben Cardin (Md.), the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, signed off on the transaction several weeks ago, according to U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss arms transfers. Cardin, a staunch supporter of Israel, had been widely seen as standing with Meeks in an act of collegial solidarity.

Meeks and Cardin are two of four lawmakers who can effectively veto a foreign military sale. In the case of the F-15 and munitions package, the two top Republicans on the committees — Sen. James E. Risch of Idaho and Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas — signed off on the sale months ago.