Senator Jeff Merkley : U.S. "Complicit in Starvation and Humanitarian Catastrophe in Gaza"
Democracy Now
February 29, 2024
As over 100 Palestinians are killed by Israeli forces while gathering for food aid in Gaza City, we speak to Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, who in November became only the second of only five U.S. senators to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.
In January, he traveled to the Rafah border crossing in Egypt to witness the system of humanitarian aid deliveries, which he described on the Senate floor as a "complicated, bizarre inspection process."
Merkley is now calling for the U.S. to bypass Israel in order to directly send aid to Gaza. Because of the United States' relationship to Israel - "more closely tied than any situation in the world" - Merkley says, "It's the United States that has leverage to address this situation, and the world expects us to take the lead."
[snip]
"Well, Israel has had great reluctance about providing aid into Gaza, and yet they control all the entry points into Gaza, so they are the critical factor. And so, they set up a system that's full of challenges. So, truck drivers have to wait for permission to go to the inspection location, which is in Israel. So they drive them from - they may be waiting quite a while in Egypt, waiting for permission to do that, get to that inspection point, and may be told, "Well, there is an item on your truck that we can't allow." For example, one issue we heard about was scalpels in birthing kits. Well, they have a sharp edge, so this is being rejected. Or perhaps it's an oxygen tank for a hospital, but that metal could be used as a missile launcher. Or there is a power generator needed also for a hospital, but it could be used by Hamas to put air into a tunnel. So these things get rejected, even after they have been cleared in advance. And if a single item is rejected off the truck, the entire truck is rejected.
And so this is why the process is so complicated and difficult. Partly it's rooted in an authentic desire to avoid dual-use items that will help Hamas, and partly it's rooted in a reluctance to provide aid directly from Israel into Gaza. And yet the U.S. has depended upon that as a way to provide humanitarian aid, and it's been so grossly inadequate, So, every single day, we see the growing collapse of the medical system. We see women who are having C-sections without anesthesia. We see children having their limbs amputated without anesthesia. We see basic supplies of medicine for people who are suffering from high blood pressure, or they're suffering from diabetic circumstances, or they have infections, and they don't have antibiotics. This is unacceptable."
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https://democracynow.org/2024/2/29/jeff_merkley_gaza_ceasefire
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