By Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly rejected a bid to block $8.8 billion in arms sales to Israel over the human rights crisis facing Palestinians in Gaza following Israel’s bombardment of the enclave and suspension of humanitarian aid deliveries.
The Senate voted 82-15 and 83-15 to reject two resolutions of disapproval over sales of massive bombs and other offensive military equipment. The resolutions were offered by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent who caucuses with Democrats.
In each case, Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin voted “present.”
A decades-long tradition of strong bipartisan support for Israel in the U.S. Congress means resolutions to stop weapons sales are unlikely to pass, but backers hope raising the issue will encourage Israel’s government and U.S. administrations to do more to protect civilians.
In remarks urging support for the resolutions, Sanders described the toll on civilians – with thousands of children facing malnutrition and starvation, especially from a recent blockade of humanitarian assistance.
“What is happening right now is unthinkable. Today it is 31 days and counting with absolutely no humanitarian aid getting into Gaza, nothing. No food, no water, no medicine, no fuel, for over a month,” Sanders said.
The suspension, which Israel says is aimed at pressuring militant group Hamas in ceasefire talks, applies to food, medicine and fuel imports.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman James Risch urged defeat of the Sanders resolutions, saying, “They would abandon Israel, our closest ally in the Middle East, during a pivotal moment for global security.”
More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli campaign in Gaza, Palestinian officials say. It was launched after thousands of Hamas-led gunmen attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and abducting 251 as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Much of Gaza has been reduced to rubble, leaving hundreds of thousands of people sheltering in tents or bombed-out buildings.
Thursday’s vote took place the same day that hundreds of thousands of Gazans fled in search of shelter in one of the biggest mass displacements of the war. Israeli forces are advancing into the ruins of the city of Rafah, part of a newly announced “security zone” they intend to seize.
PREVIOUS RESOLUTIONS HAVE FAILED
The Senate voted overwhelmingly in November to block three resolutions introduced by Sanders that would have halted transfers of weapons approved by the administration of then-President Joe Biden, a Democrat whom some progressives criticized as doing too little to help Palestinians as conditions in Gaza worsened.
President Donald Trump, who began a second term on January 20 and is a fierce advocate for Israel, has reversed Biden’s efforts to place some limits on what arms are sent to Netanyahu’s government. He has also floated the idea of transferring Palestinians out of Gaza and turning the enclave into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”
Trump earlier this year sidestepped the congressional review process to approve billions of dollars in military sales to Israel.
U.S. law gives Congress the right to review major foreign weapons sales and block them by passing resolutions of disapproval. Although no such resolution has both passed Congress and survived a presidential veto, the law requires the Senate to vote if a resolution is filed. Such resolutions have at times led to angry debates embarrassing to past presidents.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Richard Cowan; Editing by Alistair Bell)
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