Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) criticized the Biden administration on Monday over what she referred to as an “unrestrained” Israeli authorities.
“The horrors unfolding in northern Gaza are the result of a completely unrestrained Netanyahu gov, fully armed by the Biden admin while food aid is blocked and patients are bombed in hospitals,” Ocasio-Cortez stated in a put up on the social platform X.
”This can be a genocide of Palestinians,” she added. “The US must stop enabling it. Arms embargo now.”
Ocasio-Cortez’s put up comes a day after Vice President Harris pushed for Israel to ramp up support to Gaza in a put up of her personal, citing a World Meals Program (WFP) report.
“The UN reports that no food has entered northern Gaza in nearly 2 weeks. Israel must urgently do more to facilitate the flow of aid to those in need,” Harris stated in her put up on X. “Civilians must be protected and must have access to food, water, and medicine. International humanitarian law must be respected.”
In a Saturday press launch, the WFP stated “escalating violence in northern Gaza is having a disastrous impact on food security for thousands of Palestinian families” and “that the main crossings into the north have been closed and no food aid has entered since 1 October.”
The WFP additionally stated that meals distribution factors, kitchens and bakeries in northern Gaza have needed to shut down because of airstrikes, army floor operations and evacuation orders.
“The north is basically cut off and we’re not able to operate there,” Antoine Renard, WFP nation director for Palestine, stated within the launch. “WFP has been on the ground since the onset of the crisis. We are committed to delivering life-saving food every day despite the mounting challenges, but without safe and sustained access, it is virtually impossible to reach the people in need.”
Ocasio-Cortez’s Monday critique additionally got here because the U.S. introduced that it’s sending 100 troops and a Terminal Excessive Altitude Space Protection system to Israel, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calibrates the nation’s response to Iran’s newest assaults.
The New York progressive has been calling on the U.S. to cease arming Israel since properly earlier than Hamas launched its Oct. 7 assault on Israel final 12 months. She and different “Squad” members have ramped up requires a weapons embargo because the toll of Israel’s retaliatory warfare has grown.
Whereas former President Trump and Republican teams have sought to tie Harris to far-left figures in her social gathering, the Democratic nominee has persistently stated she wouldn’t break from President Biden’s staunch help for Israel.
The Hill has reached out to the White Home and Israeli prime minister’s workplace for remark.
