US Senator Bernie Sanders calls on Israel to open borders for humanitarian aid

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - US Senator Bernie Sanders on Tuesday called on Israel to open borders to allow for humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip.

"We are approaching a point of no return. The United States must continue to airdrop humanitarian aid,” said Sanders, an independent senator for the state of Vermont.

"And Israel MUST open the borders and allow the UN to deliver supplies in sufficient quantities. Failure to do so should result in the immediate halt of all military aid," he said on X.

In a video on social media, he said the catastrophe unfolding in Gaza is among "the worst humanitarian disasters" in modern history.

For months, the UN and other aid organizations have warned that the constant bombing and restrictions on humanitarian aid entering Gaza raise the risk of famine and disease, he stressed, adding that two months ago, the UN warned that the whole population of Gaza was hungry, and people were going hungry.

"And that more than half a million people faced the most severe category of food insecurity ... Now, today the worst of those fears are becoming reality. Hundreds of thousands of children in Gaza, beautiful little kids are starving to death," Sanders said.

Israel has launched a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack, which Tel Aviv said killed some 1,200 people.

More than 30,600 Palestinians have since been killed and over 72,000 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide by the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.