By Diyar Guldogan
WASHINGTON (AA) - Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders said Friday it is "unacceptable" for the US to send $14 billion to Israel which is threatening a ground invasion in Rafah in the Gaza Strip.
"One of the worst humanitarian disasters in modern history is now unfolding before our eyes in Gaza today, right now, and we, as the government of the United States, are complicit," Sanders said ahead of a Senate procedural vote on whether to advance security aid for Israel and Ukraine.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the army on Friday to develop a dual plan to evacuate civilians from Rafah and to defeat the remaining Hamas battalions.
The question that US Congress must ask is how many more children and innocent people will be "smashed" by Netanyahu in this process, Sanders said, adding beyond the total destruction of Gaza, Netanyahu "has no plan."
"The US Congress is prepared to spend another $14 billion on military aid to Netanyahu's right-wing government. Fourteen billion dollars more. And 10 billion of this money is totally unrestricted and will allow Netanyahu to buy more of the bombs, he has literally used to flatten Gaza and to kill thousands and thousands of children," he said.
He asked if Congress would "award" Netanyahu with military aid so that it could "annihilate" thousands more men, women and children.
Sanders made it clear that he would oppose the bill and urged his colleagues to do the same.
Despite the International Court of Justice’s provisional ruling, Israel continues its onslaught on the Gaza Strip, where at least 27,947 Palestinians have been killed, including 12,000 children and 8,190 women, and 67,459 injured since Oct. 7, according to Palestinian health authorities.
Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas, which Tel Aviv said killed nearly 1,200 people.
The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure was damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.