Senator says we are accomplices of Israel’s ethnic cleansing in Gaza | U.S. Senate

Two Democratic senators claim they have reached “inevitable conclusions” Israel Systematic plans are being taken to destroy and ethnic cleansing Palestinians from Gaza to force locals to leave, and they say the United States is accomplice.

Chris van Hollen of Maryland and Jeff Merkley of Oregon are both members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Their findings are in the report They noted that the return of the Middle East from the Congressional delegation, on Thursday, the destruction surpassed the bombs and bullets. They said they also discovered a systematic campaign to stifle humanitarian aid, which they called “using food as a weapon of war.”

“The Netanyahu government is far beyond its targets against Hamas Gaza,” Van Hollen said in a news conference Thursday: “What they are doing and what we witness brings these goals into practice. ”

At least 100 people died in Gaza famine Say this weekquote from Gaza’s Ministry of Health.

Senators who visited Egypt, Israel, the occupied West Bank and Jordan believed that Israel’s actions in Gaza constituted a strategy of deliberately cleaning up the local population, rather than collateral damage to the war on the Hamas. Their report is titled: Netanyahu government is implementing a plan to clean up Gaza in Palestine. The United States is a co-conspirator. The world must stop it.

During their visit to the Egyptian Gaza border, they observed that the southern Gaza city of Rafa (who was 270,000 Palestinians) was reduced to rubble. Van Hollen describes how two legislators climbed out of the Egyptian side of the border to escape from the fire outside to see the destruction clearly.

The lawmakers also met with former IDF soldiers, who described their involvement in “systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure.” Their report states first-hand instructions “a part of the intentional pattern of using explosives to blow up entire cities, houses, schools and other civilian sites.”

Senators recorded arbitrary restrictions that made aid groups unable to predict what would be denied entry. Jordanian officials told them that peanut butter, honey and dates were suddenly banned from using the convoy, and the entire truck turned around for carrying a restricted item. The report said each truck would have to pay a new $400 customs handling fee, and when the trucks fail to pass the screening process, it would have to pay another $400 to join the later fleet. The report said that due to these and other restrictions on the Israeli government, Jordan’s humanitarian aid is currently operating at less than 10% of its capacity.

In Egypt, the UN truck fleet “suffered serious losses” and the UN organization showed a video of the senators showing their convoys being slammed by the IDF and “has often happened.” The report also visited warehouses operated by Egyptian Red Crescent and the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), which are banned by Israel, including solar water pumps, tents, tires, wheelchairs, and even spare parts for trucks with “dual use” restrictions.

WFP officials told the senators at the port of Ashdod in Israel that there are 2,200 containers of food delivery (enough to feed each person in Gaza for three weeks) sitting down to delay the screening process, requiring each pallet to be inspected separately.

Merkley described two components of the strategy: “One is to destroy the house so that it cannot return…the second is to deprive Palestinians of life, food, water, medicine.”

Israel replaced hundreds of UN distribution sites with aid sites of 2 million, three of which are located only in southern Gaza. The senator heard that the malnourished mother could not walk a few miles to the assigned location while taking the child, and then lifted a 40-pound food box for the return journey. From May 22 to July 31, 1,373 people were killed near these locations. According to the United Nations.

Israel and the United States are calling plan For the mass displaced people of Palestinians in Gaza, the report reads, “Voluntary Exodus” is “one of the most fraudulent, sinister and distorted cover stories ever”.

“When your house walks away, when your agricultural field is no longer inaccessible, and when you want to leave, there is nothing voluntary,” Van Hollen said in a press conference.

Both senators accuse the U.S. government of achieving what it describes as ethnic cleansing. “We, the United States, are accomplices in all of this,” Van Hollen said. “Because we are providing taxpayer dollar support to the Netanyahu government for the use of weapons in Gaza.”

Congress’s sentiment for long-term U.S. support for Israel has been moving slowly, but it has been changing. Recently, the Senate vote on arms sales in Israel saw 27 Democratic senators (more than half) oppose the transfer of weapons.

“The same values ​​that make me an Israeli champion forced me to say what they did to the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza were absolutely wrong,” Merkley said.

Both members called for immediate action to secure the ceasefire, noting that Israeli hostage families told them that Netanyahu “prioritizes his political survival, not the survival of our loved ones”.

“The world has a moral and legal obligation to prevent ongoing ethnic cleansing,” their report concluded. “Strong words alone are not enough. The world must impose penalties and fees on those who carry out the plan.”