Nearly two dozen US lawmakers have called on the outgoing administration of Joe Biden to withhold offensive military transfers to Israel over the regime’s ongoing war on the Gaza Strip, which began over 14 months ago.
The call was made in a letter signed by 20 lawmakers, led by Congressman Greg Casar, after the Biden administration warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet either to increase humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza or risk a reassessment of US military support.
“We urge your administration to adhere to and uphold US law by suspending offensive military transfers to Netanyahu,” and his occupation army, the lawmakers wrote in their letter.
“Failure to do so not only risks our leverage in ceasefire negotiations, it undermines our country’s own national security and weakens America’s commitment to human rights as a cornerstone of our foreign policy.”
The Biden administration’s warning in October came with a 30-day deadline for Israel to meet a certain set of requirements, such as allowing 350 aid trucks a day into Gaza, instituting humanitarian pauses across the strip to allow for humanitarian activities and ensuring there will be no Israeli regime’s policy of forced evacuation of civilians from northern to southern Gaza.
However, the 30-day deadline passed and there was no US reassessment of military support, with Washington eventually claiming that it was satisfied with what Israel had done regarding the humanitarian situation.
Last week, a larger group of nearly 80 lawmakers wrote a letter to the Biden administration and called for the provision of a full assessment of how it concluded Israel had met the humanitarian requirements in Gaza that would allow the US to continue sending military aid to the country.
A group of Palestinians also filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against US Secretary of State Antony Blinken as Washington continues supplying Israel with weaponry despite grave human rights abuses in Gaza.
UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, has raised the alarm about the “apocalyptic” situation in the Gaza Strip as a result of the Israeli regime’s tightened siege in the Palestinian territory.
“Gaza is apocalyptic right now,” Fletcher told CNN. “We are getting only a tiny fraction through of what is needed. We’re facing the specter of starvation again. Disease is rampant. Our trucks are getting looted… But we will keep trying against the odds.”
US Congress complicit in Gaza genocide
Meanwhile, Josephine Guilbeau, a former captain in the US military, disrupted a congressional hearing on veteran affairs on Wednesday to protest her country’s support for Israel’s war on Gaza.
“US Congress is complicit in the genocide in Gaza! You keep sending billions of dollars to Israel meanwhile veterans are homeless and committing suicide with more budget cuts on the way,” said Guilbeau, who served in the US military for 17 years.
“As a 17-year veteran and intelligence officer, I am watching you destroy American values and jeopardize our national security.”
Pointing to the Israeli atrocities in Gaza, Guilbeau said, “For one year, I have watched Israel burn children alive. You don’t care about veterans. You don’t care about American values. You are destroying this country – shame on all of you! May God give you the moral courage to do the right thing! May God give you your hearts. Please! Please! Shame on you.”
Israel launched a genocidal war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime’s decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.
The regime’s bloody onslaught on Gaza has so far killed at least 45,097 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured more than 107,244 others. Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under rubble.
Last month, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel is also facing a genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for its atrocities in Gaza.