US ‘can’t stand’ for Israel's 'ethnic cleansing' in Gaza: Senator

WASHINGTON

US Sen. Chris Van Hollen on Wednesday slammed Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu's government blockade of aid to the Gaza Strip, saying the US should not be "complicit" in it.

"It's now been well over 60 days since the Netanyahu government imposed a total blockade of humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza, not allowing any food or any other humanitarian assistance to reach the over 2 million civilians there," Van Hollen said in a video on X.

He said withholding food and humanitarian assistance "as a weapon of war is flat out illegal" under international law.

The Israeli Security Cabinet unanimously approved a new plan Monday for Israel “to conquer Gaza and hold the territory under its control,” according to a statement from Netanyahu’s office.

Van Hollen said Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir recently visited Washington DC and urged the implementation of President Donald Trump's plan to "essentially force" 2 million Palestinian civilians to leave Gaza.

"That is simply ethnic cleansing by another name," he said. "We can’t stand for it."

"America should not be complicit in any of this, and the world should not be complicit in any of this. All of us have a duty as human beings to speak out as to what's happening," he added.

Since March 2, Israel has kept Gaza’s crossings closed to food, medical and humanitarian aid, deepening an already worsening humanitarian crisis in the enclave.

More than 52,600 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.