Resolution in US Senate urging Trump to pressure Israel for Gaza blockade end

More than two dozen US senators have introduced a resolution urging the Trump administration to “use all diplomatic tools at its disposal” to end Israel’s blockade of Gaza, Al Jazeera reports.

“It’s been over two months since the Israeli government has been using its power to withhold food, medicine, lifesaving cancer treatments, dialysis systems, formula, and more from starving and suffering families across Gaza,” Senator Peter Welch told the Senate earlier this week.

“Half a million Palestinians in Gaza are facing starvation, and that number is rising … All the while, these trucks that are filled with food and medicine — much of that aid provided by the United States and our allies — is right there across the border,” he said.

“We cannot have or sanction a government-intentional policy of starvation.”

Meanwhile US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said after he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Washington is troubled by the humanitarian situation in Gaza, Reuters reports.

Rubio, speaking to reporters in Antalya, Turkey, said the US was not insensitive to the suffering of people in Gaza, where no humanitarian assistance has been delivered since March 2.