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As Gaza Death Toll Tops 40,000, Congress Urged to Block New Weapons to Israel
"U.S. arms transfers to Israel have fueled unimaginable suffering in Gaza, including staggering levels of civilian harm," said one embargo advocate.
Aug 15, 2024
As the Palestinian death toll from Israel's 314-day assault on Gaza passed 40,000—a figure Palestinian and United Ntions officials say is made up of mostly women and children and is likely a vast undercount—human rights groups this week decried the Biden administration's approval of $20 billion worth of new weapons for Israel and renewed pleas for Congress to block further arms transfers to the nation's far-right government.
On Tuesday—just days after Israeli forces used at least one U.S.-supplied bomb in an airstrike on a Gaza City school that killed scores of forcibly displaced Palestinian civilians sheltering there—the Biden administration notified Congress of the pending sale of a new weapons package that includes dozens of F-15 fighter jets, tens of thousands of 120mm mortar shells, over 32,700 tank shells, and 30 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles.
Since October, Congress and the Biden administration have approved more than $14 billion in unconditional military aid to Israel. President Joe Biden has signed off on more than 100 arms transfers to Israel during that period. This, atop the $3.8 billion in annual armed aid the U.S. already gives to the key Middle Eastern ally.
"Israel used U.S.-made weapons in May when it slaughtered Palestinian families sheltering in tent camps in Rafah," Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) said Wednesday. "Israel used U.S.-made weapons when it bombed the al-Mutanabbi school in Khan Younis in early July, killing over two dozen displaced Palestinians seeking refuge there. And it used U.S.-made weapons on Saturday to murder over 100 Palestinians while they prayed."
"Biden continues to send weapons to Israel, and both political parties—Republicans and Democrats—have cheered on the Israeli government's slaughter and genocide of Palestinians in Gaza," JVP continued. "This is a U.S.-perpetrated genocide as much as it is an Israeli one."
"But the Democratic voting base is calling for something different, and we have seen the progressive and increasingly mainstream wing of the party begin to echo this need," the group said. "We are playing a critical role in driving the Democratic Party to finally catch up to the demands of its own base."
"Right now, we have an opportunity to re-center Gaza in the national conversation and continue building pressure on the Biden administration, on [Vice President] Kamala Harris, and on Democratic members of Congress to support an immediate arms embargo," JVP added.
While Harris has expressed sympathy for Palestinians suffering what she called a "humanitarian catastrophe" in Gaza, the vice president and Democratic presidential nominee, like Biden, has proclaimed her "unwavering" support for Israel. One aide said last week that Harris does not support an arms embargo.
"The decision to approve yet another massive sale of arms to Israel is appalling and a blatant violation of U.S. and international law and policy," Annie Shiel, the U.S. advocacy director at the Center for Civilians in Conflict, said on Thursday.
"U.S. arms transfers to Israel have fueled unimaginable suffering in Gaza, including staggering levels of civilian harm, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, and an ever-growing humanitarian catastrophe," Shiel continued. "The U.S. is complicit in this devastation."
"Congress must block these sales, including through the introduction of joint resolutions of disapproval," she added, "and the Biden-Harris administration must finally end U.S. arms transfers and use its leverage to bring about an immediate cease-fire."
The international anti-poverty NGO ActionAid said Thursday: "We are outraged and heartbroken by the staggering loss of 40,000 lives in Gaza. It is a number that is incomprehensible—every life lost is an individual tragedy."
"But this is not an inevitable one, it is an ongoing atrocity, and it could have been prevented," the group continued. "Most governments across the world have refused to do the bare minimum to protect civilian life and it is to our collective shame. We are losing confidence each day in the concept of justice."
"We reiterate our calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities and urge all governments to meet their obligations under international law and use all available means to take immediate and decisive action to ensure the safety and security of all civilians," ActionAid said.
"We call for the imposition of sanctions, including travel bans and asset freezes, on Israeli officials linked to alleged violations of international humanitarian law," the NGO added. "Every day that you choose to avoid this as a reality, this death toll will keep rising until there is nobody left in Gaza alive."
In addition to the South Africa-led genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan has applied for warrants to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and for three Hamas leaders, at least one of whom has been assassinated by Israeli forces.
The Biden administration and numerous members of Congress have condemned the courts' pursuit of justice for Israel and its leaders. In June, 42 Democrats joined nearly every Republican in the House of Representatives in passing a bill that would sanction ICC officials over Khan's application for arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant.
In addition to rights groups, a coalition of journalists, news outlets, and press freedom organizations on Thursday implored the Biden administration to immediately halt arms transfers to Israel.
As the tight 2024 presidential race between Harris and former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, heads toward the home stretch, a survey commissioned by the Institute for Middle Eastern Understanding Policy Project and conducted by YouGov revealed this week that Democratic and Independent voters in the key swing states of Arizona, Georgia, and Pennsylvania would be more willing to vote for Harris if she backed an arms embargo on Israel.
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After 300 Days of Israeli Assault, Many Gazans Too Malnourished to Donate Blood
"It's truly admirable that despite these dreadful circumstances people are still wanting to help one another and support hospital staff by donating blood—even if, devastatingly, they are far too sick themselves to be able to do so."
Aug 02, 2024
As Palestinians and humanitarians around the world marked 300 days of horror in Gaza, an aid organization highlighted a pernicious consequence of Israel's nearly 10-month assault: A hospital in the northern part of the enclave was forced to turn away many who arrived to give blood to help those wounded by bombs and bullets because the potential donors themselves were too malnourished and sick.
Gazans turned out in significant numbers in recent weeks to give blood at Al-Awda Hospital, an already underresourced facility that faced an influx of wounded patients following the Israeli military's latest attacks on Gaza City.
ActionAid International, a global humanitarian group, said Friday that "despite facing appalling personal circumstances, many people selflessly responded to Al-Awda Hospital's call-out for blood donations, but with the whole of Gaza at high risk of famine, many were deemed too unwell to undergo the process."
Dr. Mohammed Salha, the acting director of Al-Awda, said a "large percentage" of potential blood donors were turned away because they were "suffering from malnutrition." An estimated 96% of Gaza's population is facing crisis-level hunger.
"Malnutrition is widespread, specifically in the northern Gaza Strip," said Salha. "For over five months, no vegetables, fruit, or meat have been brought into the northern Gaza Strip."
Al-Awda is one of the few hospitals in Gaza that is still partially functioning amid Israel's devastating military assault, which has killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians since October and sparked an unprecedented humanitarian emergency.
No one has been spared: Entire families, journalists, aid workers, nurses and doctors, and U.N. staff have been killed by the U.S.-armed Israeli military, and those who have survived have been repeatedly displaced and forced to live amid rotting trash, sewage, and the ruins of homes and buildings with little to no access to clean water, reliable food sources, bathrooms, and other necessities.
The fetid conditions have become what the World Health Organization described as a "perfect breeding ground for disease." Earlier this week, Gaza's Health Ministry declared the enclave a "polio epidemic zone" and warned the consequences could spill over into neighboring countries.
Lice, scabies, and rashes are also rampant in the enclave given overcrowded conditions. Israel's forced evacuations of large swaths of Gaza have meant that more than two million people have sought refuge in just 14% of the territory.
"In addition to the spread of many skin diseases... there are thousands of [people who] have come to the hospital here and the hospitals operating in the northern Gaza Strip [who are] suffering from viral hepatitis," said Salha.
"The world must not normalize the horrors we are witnessing in Gaza."
Riham Jafari, advocacy and communications coordinator at ActionAid Palestine, said Friday that "it's no surprise at all that diseases and infections are running rampant in Gaza when people have been forced to live in such appalling and dehumanizing conditions, and have barely anything to eat."
"It's truly admirable that despite these dreadful circumstances people are still wanting to help one another and support hospital staff by donating blood—even if, devastatingly, they are far too sick themselves to be able to do so," Jafari added.
As conditions on the ground in Gaza worsen by the hour, the prospects of a cease-fire agreement appear increasingly remote amid Israel's fresh assassination campaign, which analysts argue is a clear attempt by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to sabotage truce negotiations.
U.S. President Joe Biden, who has approved more than 100 arms sales to Israel since the October 7 Hamas-led attack, said Thursday after speaking with Netanyahu that "we have the basis for a cease-fire."
Netanyahu, the president added, "should move on it." But Biden gave no indication that he intends to pressure Israel by cutting off the weapons supply to its forces, who have used American arms to commit horrific war crimes.
Rohan Talbot, director of advocacy and campaigns with the U.K.-based group Medical Aid for Palestinians, said Thursday that "the world must not normalize the horrors we are witnessing in Gaza."
"Governments, including the U.K. government, must immediately cease arms transfers to Israel and redouble efforts to secure a permanent cease-fire," Talbot added. "Any delay will be measured not in days, but in Palestinian lives."
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Report From Gaza Aid Agencies Shows 'Catastrophe on an Entirely New Level'
"In Gaza, we are not witnessing a 'shrinking' humanitarian space; there is barely any space left to operate at all," the report authors said.
Jul 31, 2024
Israeli attacks on relief workers and designated "humanitarian zones" in Gaza, as well its tight control over borders and repeated evacuation orders, have devastated the ability to deliver much-needed aid to residents of the beleaguered strip, 20 non-governmental organizations warned in a report released Tuesday.
Israel has now issued "evacuation orders" that cover 86% of the Gaza Strip's land area, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). This means that Gaza's 2.1 million people are now expected to squeeze into only 14% of Gaza's 141 square miles.
"We are doing everything we can to save children's lives in Gaza, but our job becomes more and more challenging by the day," said Jeremy Stoner, the Middle East regional director of Save the Children, one of the organizations behind the report. "Forcibly displacing civilians into areas that cannot accommodate them is causing a humanitarian catastrophe on an entirely new level."
"What is the international community doing about this humanitarian crisis?"
Between July 22 and 27 alone, Israeli "evacuation orders" forced around 200,000 people from central and eastern Khan Younis, and 12,600 from camps in Deir al Balah.
"There is no space left," Stoner continued, "and barely enough life-saving supplies to keep children alive. Without access to critical assistance, lives will continue to be lost."
Palestinians in Gaza face severe shortages of basic necessities, with half a million subjected to "catastrophic levels" of food insecurity, the report authors said. The amount of water available to Gaza's residents has shrunk by 94% since before Israel's onslaught began in October, and on July 26, Israel bombed the "Tal Sultan Water Reservoir," the leading source of drinking water in Rafah.
"We are talking about at least 34 children who have starved to death," Oxfam policy lead Bushra Khalidi said in the report. "If this estimate doesn't move the world, consider that most U.N. and other reports state that Gaza is on the verge of famine. What is the international community doing about this humanitarian crisis?"
Ola, a 42-year-old from northern Gaza who has been displaced more than fives times since the war began, told aid workers that "things are starting to take a toll and our bodies feel weak and flimsy."
"We can't really walk anymore but have to walk long distances to get water or buy anything," Ola said. "So at the moment, we stopped leaving the place we're in (...) and yesterday we picked and cooked mulberry leaves to block the children's hunger."
"It pains me as an aid worker that I can't do much for others."
At the same time, strict rules and violence at the border—both from direct Israeli attacks and the breakdown of law and order in their wake—make it increasingly difficult to get aid into Gaza, with deliveries dropping by 56% since April, according to U.N. figures. Save the Children reported that it had to wait almost a month at the Kerem Shalom border crossing to get four trucks filled with much-needed medical supplies to the other side. At the same time, Gaza's health facilities, which report authors say have "already collapsed," continue to attempt and treat people with a dwindling supply of U.N. medicines.
Another obstacle to delivering medicine is that Israel's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories will only permit flatbed trucks to enter Gaza, yet temperature-controlled medications can only be transported in closed trucks. Because of this rule, 17 pallets of Save the Children's temperature-controlled medication are currently stranded in Al-Areesh, Egypt.
Oxfam said it had deliveries of water tanks, desalination units, tap stands, generators, and latrines stalled on the other side of the border, while the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) had 864 tents it has so far been unable to bring through.
"This is the first time I find myself unable to offer help to others. It pains me as an aid worker that I can't do much for others. In all past escalations, I would still go out and serve those who needed help," Salma Altaweel, an NRC support manager in Gaza City, said in the report.
When aid workers in Gaza attempt to deliver supplies, they put themselves at risk. On July 13, a drone strike killed two members of a War Child partner organization, while an Israeli airstrike killed four of a War Child and Action Aid partner worker's children and critically injured his wife when it struck his shelter in Nuseirat. Israel fired on a clearly marked U.N. convoy on July 21, and two well-labeled UNICEF convoys were fired upon just two days later. Since October, around 278 aid workers have been killed in Gaza.
Stoner of Save the Children said: "Aid workers are not spared from the violence. One of our staff members was killed alongside his wife and four children by an Israeli airstrike back in December, since then aid workers have continued to be targeted. Humanitarian staff should never be a target and humanitarian operations, including convoys and warehouses, must be protected. We've said it again and again: an immediate and definitive cease-fire is the only way to save lives in Gaza."
The report authors issued a reminder that Israel, as an occupying power in Gaza, is obligated under the Geneva Convention to safeguard the humanitarian needs of Gaza's people by allowing aid to enter and be administered safely.
"Our continued presence should not be mistaken for an indication of unimpeded access," the aid groups wrote. "We operate at great risk, despite significant impediments to our access. The risks our colleagues are exposed to each moment are unacceptable and contrary to their protections under international law. In Gaza, we are not witnessing a 'shrinking' humanitarian space; there is barely any space left to operate at all."
They concluded, "We, the undersigned NGOs, continue to call for an immediate and lasting cease-fire and maintain it is the only way to provide humanitarian assistance and protect and save lives in Gaza."
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