10/09/2024
Dear Dr. Lowendorf:
Thank you for contacting my office about the conflict in Israel and Gaza, the West Bank, and continuing aid. I appreciate the benefit of your views on this matter. I share your anger and frustration about what is happening to Palestinians and the need to ensure U.S. military aid to Israel is not used to create more destruction of civilian lives and infrastructure.
I am shocked and infuriated by the ongoing Israeli military campaign in the Gaza Strip and outraged by the devastation that indiscriminate violence has wrought on innocent Palestinian communities.
Tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians and over 220 United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) employees have been killed in Gaza since the start of the conflict. Designated safe areas such as schools, hospitals, and refugee camps have been indiscriminately bombed by Israeli forces, some multiple times. I was horrified by Israel’s fifth attack on the United Nations (UN)-operated al-Jaouni school in the Nuseirat refugee camp on September 11 that killed 18 people, including six staff members.
Not enough is being done to protect innocent Palestinians caught in the crosshairs of this conflict – this must end. Israel’s military forces have killed tens of thousands of innocent people and created a humanitarian crisis that has put millions at risk of starvation.
I have called for an immediate ceasefire to preserve the lives and dignity of the Palestinian people and free the remaining hostages held by Hamas. I supported President Biden’s ceasefire plan that has passed the UN Security Council. I am committed to saving Palestinian lives and achieving a solution to the conflict that ensures a Palestinian state. I have called on the President to demand that at least 500 trucks of food, fuel, medical supplies, and other aid must enter the Gaza Strip every day to address the starvation of Palestinian men, women, and children.
Furthermore, I supported President Biden’s decision to halt shipments of thousands of bombs to Israel – American-made weapons have already been used by Israel to kill civilians in Gaza. I signed a letter alongside 87 colleagues urging the Biden Administration to enforce U.S. law and policy regarding U.S. humanitarian aid to Gaza, which you can read here. The United States can and must do more to put pressure on Prime Minister Netanyahu and his Administration to stop this large-scale violence.
The West Bank has also become increasingly more violent since the October 7 attacks. On my most recent visit to Israel, I saw firsthand the horrific consequences of settler violence. Entire communities were destroyed, families displaced, and tensions further stoked by an ongoing campaign to violently remove Palestinians from their homes. Over 703 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since October 7, 2023. This violence, fueled by extremist rhetoric from members of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s own government, is unacceptable.
Earlier this year, I sent a letter with my colleagues expressing outrage about an Israeli airstrike that killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers, and called on the administration to withhold new arms transfers to Israel until a full investigation into the airstrike was completed. Furthermore, under the Leahy Law, it is prohibited for the U.S. to provide military assistance to foreign security forces that commit gross human rights violations. Experts have raised concerns that the State Department has not appropriately applied and enforced the Leahy Law with respect to U.S. military aid to Israel despite credible evidence of human rights violations by certain Israeli military units.
Hamas cannot play any role in Gaza’s future. Peace can only be made possible with reforms to strengthen the Palestinian Authority so that it can represent the Palestinian people and govern an independent Palestinian state.
Again, thank you for contacting me. Please do not hesitate to write to me about this or any other matter of importance to you in the future. I also encourage you to visit www.delauro.house.gov for up-to-date information on my work in Congress. For regular updates, you can subscribe to my newsletter here, and follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Sincerely,
ROSA L. DeLAURO
Member of Congress
Representing the 3rd District of Connecticut
