ISTANBUL

Two US senators this week visited a historic church in Taybeh in the central West Bank, a Christian town often facing attacks by illegal Israeli settlers.

Extremist settlers set ablaze one of the outer walls of the Church of St. George in July, drawing a global wave of condemnation from Christian leaders worldwide.

“We're here overall because we want to focus on the really terrible situation throughout this area, including the war in Gaza,” Senator Van Hollen told Qatari Al Jazeera television.

The US senator stressed the necessity of ending Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza and settler violence in the occupied West Bank.

Hollen said he and Senator Jeff Merkley visited the families of five Palestinian Americans killed in attacks in the West Bank since October 2023.

“(Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu’s government has done nothing to rein in violent settlers, and in fact, they've been complicit in allowing these attacks,” he added.

Merkley, for his part, said it is important for members of the US Congress “to come here to witness and to listen and to carry the stories of injustice in our heart, but also in our advocacy back home.”

“Starvation of people in Gaza is unacceptable, and that violence on the West Bank against Palestinians is unacceptable,” he added.

Israel has killed nearly 63,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023. A choking blockade imposed by Israel on the enclave since early March has created catastrophic conditions for the territory’s 2.4 million residents, leading to famine, widespread disease, and the collapse of essential services.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice over its war on the enclave.