Progressive lawmakers and rights groups reissued their urgent demands for an arms embargo to Israel on Tuesday, following a horrific Israeli assault on Gaza that killed hundreds of Palestinians. The attacks came after the Israeli military had slowed its massacres for weeks under the ceasefire agreement.
“The Israeli apartheid regime has resumed its genocide, carrying out airstrikes all across Gaza and killing hundreds of Palestinians. This comes after a complete blockade of food, electricity, and aid,” said Palestinian American Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan) on social media.
“They will never stop until there are sanctions and an arms embargo,” Tlaib warned.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) sounded the alarm on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza amid the third week of Israel’s renewed total aid blockade on the besieged enclave.
Israeli Prime Minister “Netanyahu has not allowed any food, water, or fuel into Gaza in two weeks,” Sanders wrote. “Now he has resumed bombing, killing hundreds of people and breaking the ceasefire that had given Gaza a chance to live again. NO MORE MILITARY AID TO ISRAEL.”
Representatives Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) and Delia C. Ramirez also restated their calls for an arms embargo in the wake of the attacks.
Israel has repeatedly broken the ceasefire agreement since it went into effect on January 19; as of earlier this month, Gaza officials had recorded 962 violations.
Now, with the approval of U.S. officials, Israel is effectively unilaterally upending the agreement, which is supposed to be in its second phase. As of writing, Israel has killed at least 404 Palestinians in its renewed assault and injured at least 562, likely making it the single deadliest day of the genocide thus far.
Netanyahu has claimed that he has ordered a resumption of bombings because Hamas is refusing to negotiate for a ceasefire — though Palestinian officials and Middle East analysts have said that it is clear that Israel never intended to fully adhere to the ceasefire agreement, which called for a permanent end to Israel’s assault and for total withdrawal from the Strip.
Even as the deal was being signed, Netanyahu insisted that he would not rule out a resumption of hostilities — while both Presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump assured Netanyahu that Israel would be allowed to resume its attacks without any interruptions to U.S. assistance. Now, Trump is touting his plan for total ethnic cleansing of Gaza, in order to build a luxury vacation destination for the rich on the remains of the genocide.
“Last night’s massacre of over 419 Palestinians, including at least 174 children, is part of Netanyahu’s plan to ‘take control of Gaza,’” wrote the Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project on social media, also calling for an end to the U.S.’s military assistance to Israel.
The group pointed out that Netanyahu is cynically motivated by his own political survival, which serves as a driving force behind the assault.
“Netanyahu’s governing coalition’s existence depended on a resumption of attacks on Gaza, as far-right Finance Minister Bezalal Smotrich said on January 18 that he would remain in the government on assurances that Israel would resume attacks,” the group said.
Numerous major human rights groups have condemned Israel’s renewed assault and called for international pressure for Israel’s slaughter to end once and for all.
“It is unacceptable, even unimaginable, to once again find ourselves talking about this instead of supporting a path towards meaningful recovery and sustainable peace,” said Ajith Sunghay, who directs the UN Human Rights Office in Palestine, in remarks to the press.
“Any targeting of civilians not directly participating in hostilities is a war crime and must stop, immediately; the blockade of Gaza amounts to collective punishment and must stop, immediately; and the use of starvation as a weapon of war is a crime under international law,” Sunghay went on.
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