US Senate rejects resolution demanding report on Israeli rights violations in Gaza

WASHINGTON

The US Senate rejected a resolution late Tuesday which demanded that the State Department report on Israeli human rights violations in Gaza.

The resolution, introduced by Senator Bernie Sanders, "directs the State Department to provide any credible information it may have on potential violations of internationally recognized human rights by Israel in its campaign in Gaza.”

The vote to table the resolution, or kill a motion without debate, passed 72-11. The 11 Democrats who backed Sanders’ resolution included Sen. Rand Paul, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Sen. Peter Welch.

Speaking on the Senate floor, Sanders said his resolution "focuses on the denial of right to life caused by indiscriminate or disproportionate military operations, as well as by restrictions on humanitarian access.”

The resolution "does not alter aid to Israel in any way, it simply requests a report on how US aid is being used," he said ahead of the vote.

If the Senate had passed the resolution, it would have mandated the State Department to report allegations of Israeli human rights violations to Congress within a month. The failure to submit the report would have led to the freezing of US military aid to Israel.

Sanders cites 3 concerns

The Vermont senator said the report was necessary, citing three reasons.

The first concern he conveyed was "the scale of destruction in Gaza, the indiscriminate nature of the military campaign, the humanitarian catastrophe and the limits on humanitarian access -- food, water, medical supplies and fuel.”

"Second, because of the extensive use of US weapons in attacks that have killed thousands of civilians. Much of the destruction that has taken place in Gaza has been done with US weapons," he said.

"Thirdly, I am concerned about the implications of some of the very extreme statements and unclear intentions coming out of the Netanyahu government."

Israel has launched relentless air and ground attacks on Gaza since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, which Tel Aviv said killed 1,200 people.

At least 24,285 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and 61,154 injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

According to the UN, 85% of the population of Gaza is already internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure is damaged or destroyed.