Washington Under Fire
Two senators, both Democrats, have accused Israel of engaging in a systematic campaign to ethnically cleanse Palestinians out of Gaza, stating that the United States is complicit by remaining committed to continuing military aid. Senators Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Jeff Merkley of Oregon, both on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released a scathing report Thursday after they travelled to the Middle East.
“The Netanyahu government has taken far more than to target Hamas, to inflicting collective punishment on all the people of Gaza,” Van Hollen asserted during a press conference. Their report, titled The Netanyahu Government Is Carrying Out a Plan to Ethnically Cleanse Gaza of Palestinians. America is Complicit. The World Must Stop It, details what they call a coordinated scheme of destruction and deprivation.
Aid Blocked, Civilians Suffer
The senators conclusions are beyond the destruction caused by bombings. They reported intentional limitations on humanitarian relief labelling it “food as a weapon of war.” Humanitarian convoys from Jordan were subject to subjective prohibitions on staples like peanut butter, honey, and dates. Trucks were repeatedly rejected and required new $400 customs charges. The report states that aid shipments from Jordan are now running at below 10% capacity.
In Egypt-Gaza, Van Hollen and Merkley witnessed Rafah, which was home to 270,000 Palestinians, laid to waste. Relief groups informed them Israel had even blocked tents, water pumps, and wheelchairs under so-called “dual-use” restrictions. In Israel’s Ashdod port, 2,200 containers of food sufficient to feed Gaza’s population for three weeks are stuck under heavy screening procedures.
Mounting Deaths and Rising Alarm
The UN states at least 100 have already perished from famine in Gaza. From May to July, over 1,300 people were killed in the area of aid distribution centers. With Israel cutting hundreds of UN distribution centers down to four for over 2 million individuals, many mothers have been left unable to access food or haul heavy aid packages back to their families.
Merkley characterized the Israeli approach as two-fold, to demolish homes so that Palestinians will not be able to return and to withhold them of what is necessary for survival. The senators contend this constitutes ethnic cleansing hidden as a “voluntary exodus” which they labelled one of the “most fraudulent and sinister cover stories ever told.”
Both senators called for action now, threatening that silence is complicity. “The world needs to impose sanctions and costs on those implementing this scheme,” their report states.
