The State Department informed Congress on Friday that it had approved the sale of $4.69bn worth of equipment for 555 US-made M1A1 Abrams tanks operated by Egypt, along with $630m in Hellfire air-to-surface missiles and $30m in precision-guided munitions.

In a statement issued that day, it said the sale would support US “foreign policy and national security” by helping to improve the security of a “major” non-NATO ally that had acted as an important strategic partner in the Middle East.

Egypt and the US have worked increasingly closely since the outbreak of the war in Gaza in October 2023, with Cairo playing a role in negotiating a ceasefire.

The deals come despite ongoing concern in Washington over the Egyptian government’s poor human rights record under President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

Rights group Amnesty estimates that Egypt currently holds about 60,000 political prisoners, including British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah, jailed for “spreading false news” after sharing a Facebook post about alleged police brutality.

Egypt has in the last two years pardoned hundreds of political prisoners. But rights groups have said at least three times that many have been arrested over the same period.

US President Joe Biden took office in 2021 pledging a harder line on Egypt over human rights concerns, but his administration has approved several arms deals.

In 2022, his administration approved the sale to Egypt of 12 Super Hercules C-130 transport aircraft and air defence radar systems totalling an estimated $2.5bn.

The State Department’s notification of the latest potential sale to Congress did not indicate that a contract has been signed or that negotiations have concluded.

The proposed sale would “not alter the basic military balance in the region”, said the statement, adding that transactions related to the Abrams tanks would take up to a decade to implement.

The US Congress can still block the sales, but such attempts are usually unsuccessful.

Cairo is one of the largest recipients of US security aid since its peace treaty with Israel in 1979. The largest recipient is Israel.