Sanders Calls on U.S. to Act on Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza
Floor Speech
M. President,
I'd like to say a few words about the urgent humanitarian catastrophe now unfolding in Gaza.
And the reason that I want to do that is because I have the feeling that most people here in the Senate and throughout the country are unaware of just how severe the situation has become.
My staff and I have had a number of conversations in recent days with the United Nations, the World Food Programme, and other humanitarian actors struggling to deal with the horrors unfolding in Gaza.
The bottom line is this: the coming weeks could mean the difference between life and death for tens of thousands of people. If we do not see a dramatic improvement in humanitarian access very soon, countless innocent people -- including thousands of children -- could die of dehydration, diarrhea, preventable diseases, and starvation.
The World Health Organization predicts that the number of deaths from sickness and starvation could exceed the 25,000 people who have died in the war so far, mainly from Israeli bombing attacks. And let's be clear: what is going on in Gaza today is a man-made crisis. This is not a natural disaster. This is not climate change. This is a man-made crisis taking place right now. This is the direct result of choices made by political leaders, none more than Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of Israel's extreme right-wing government.
We all know that Hamas, a terrorist organization, began this war with its horrific attack on October 7th, which killed 1,200 innocent Israeli men, women, and children, and took more than 200 hostages. Israel, in my view, had the right to respond to that attack and go after Hamas. But it did not and does not, however, have the right to go to war against the entire Palestinian people -- which is exactly that is happening right now.
M. President, let me try to provide a picture of what life is like in Gaza today.
More than 25,000 Palestinians have been killed in this war so far -- and remember, the population in Gaza is just over two million. 25,000 are dead and 62,000 wounded -- seventy percent of whom are women and children. At least 210 Palestinians have been killed in the last 24 hours. Overall, 152 UN aid workers have been killed so far, more UN losses than in any previous war.
M. President, we must understand that 1.7 million people have been driven from their homes, almost 85 percent of the entire population of Gaza. Imagine that! And 70 percent of the housing units have been damaged or destroyed -- an unprecedented level of destruction.
Most of Gaza's critical infrastructure has been destroyed or made inoperable -- including many wells, bakeries, power plants, hospitals, and sewage treatment facilities. Importantly, much of the area has been without cell phone service for weeks, making communication very difficult. How do you know what's going on? How do you know what kind of bombing may be taking place, if you don't have a cell phone that is working?
The fighting and Israeli restrictions have made it nearly impossible for food, water, fuel, and medical supplies to enter Gaza.
Water is scarce, and what little is available is often contaminated. Children are drinking very polluted water. Public wells are operating at just 10 percent capacity, and just one of three water pipelines into Gaza is functioning. For several months now, children in southern Gaza are surviving on just 1.5-2 liters of water per day, far below what is needed. And that is in the area where the UN can reach -- the situation is worse elsewhere.
The lack of clean drinking water is leading to a spike in waterborne diseases and diarrhea -- a very serious condition which accounts for nearly 10 percent of all deaths among children under the age of five worldwide. In Gaza, the UN reports 158,000 cases -- more than half among children under the age of five -- a 4,000% increase from before the war.
We heard from humanitarian groups last week that they fear many thousands of children will die from diarrhea before they starve to death. That is the horrible reality we are looking at in Gaza right now.
Hunger and starvation are widespread. Before the war, Gaza had 97 bakeries -- right now, just 15 are operating, and none are functioning in the north, closed by the combination of airstrikes and a lack of fuel and flour. Hundreds of thousands of children go to bed hungry each night, and we have all seen scenes of desperate people are mobbing the few relief trucks that can reach beyond the border crossing.
Right now, the UN says that 570,000 people in Gaza, including many little children, are currently facing "catastrophic hunger" equivalent to famine. This is the most severe category of starvation, but the UN reports that "the entire population of Gaza -- roughly 2.2 million people -- are in crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity." Virtually every household is regularly skipping meals, and most are down to a single meal a day, often just bread.
Experts tell us that infants and young children will succumb first to hunger. Without enough food, or with no clean water to make formula, their vital organs will begin to shut down. Many will die of infection before they reach that point.
M. President, I have difficulties, on a personal level, even using the technical term for this stage -- child wasting -- I find it too horrific to contemplate. Yet that is what we are watching unfold in slow motion as the world looks on. Children starving, drinking polluted water, getting sick, and slowly dying.
M. President, in the midst of all of this, Gaza's healthcare system is under tremendous strain. Faced with over 87,000 casualties -- figures that would overwhelm the most sophisticated health system in the world -- health workers have worked to save lives amid frequent bombardment in overcrowded hospitals without electricity or adequate fuel or medicine. 337 health workers have been killed.
The lack of basic necessities and overcrowded conditions are contributing to a dramatic increase in disease, and 10 percent of the population now has acute respiratory infections. Those with long-term conditions that require advanced treatment have little hope of receiving adequate care.
Amidst this devastation, approximately 180 women give birth in Gaza every day, facing unbelievable dangers and completely inadequate medical care. Without enough food or clean water, let alone necessary medications and antibiotics, many of these women face serious complications, and their children will bear lifelong scars from this war.
That is just a bit of the story of what is happening in Gaza right now -- a story that we cannot continue to ignore.
M. President, let me now say a word about why this is happening -- about the immediate causes of this humanitarian disaster.
And the answer is not complicated at every step of the way, the Israeli government has failed to provide even the most basic protections to civilians. Every humanitarian move has been extracted only after weeks of delay and outside pressure from the United States and others.
The result of all of this is that today just 20 to 30 percent of what's needed in humanization aid is being allowed into Gaza. There is not enough food. There is not enough water. There are not enough medical supplies. There is not enough fuel.
Onerous Israeli border inspections are a major cause of this crisis. Today, there is a three to four week wait for trucks to get into Gaza, while children are starving. Many trucks are unloaded and reloaded numerous times, often to be searched for the same items. It's understandable that Israel wants to ensure no weapons are reaching Hamas -- we all understand that. But senior U.S. officials tell us they have seen no evidence of Hamas theft or diversion of UN aid. Meanwhile, Israel is rejecting things like tent-poles, feminine hygiene kits, hand sanitizers, water testing kits, and medical supplies. If a single item in a truck is rejected, then the whole truck has to go back to the start of the process, causing enormous delays. Kerem Shalom crossing, the main entry point equipped to process trucks in large numbers, is only open eight hours a day. And I want to thank our colleagues, Senator Van Hollen and Senator Merkley, for their courage in going to the Egypt-Gaza border and coming back here and reporting to us their personal observations of the crisis there.
It is hard to see this process and not conclude that what is taking place is a deliberate effort to slow humanitarian aid. And sure enough, just last week, Prime Minister Netanyahu said that Israel is only allowing in the absolute minimum amount necessary.
When trucks do eventually get across the border, they face a whole new set of problems. Israel is bombing targets across Gaza, and its ground forces are fighting across much of the enclave and have closed many major roads. For aid trucks to move safely and avoid being bombed or shot, every movement must be cleared with the Israeli Defense Forces.
This deconfliction process has repeatedly failed. Even when notified, Israel has sometimes hit aid convoys. Medical facilities and humanitarian shelters cleared with the Israelis have been struck numerous times. Tragically, the first half of January actually saw a deterioration in humanitarian access. In that period, Israel denied 95% of UN attempts to bring fuel and medicines to water wells and health facilities in north Gaza.
M. President, Netanyahu's right-wing government is starving the Palestinian people. On top of its indiscriminate bombardment, Israel is imposing onerous restrictions that are blocking the delivery of essential humanitarian aid.
This is unacceptable. We are running out of time as we face one of the most severe humanitarian catastrophes of recent times.
M. President, this is not just a terrible crisis taking place many thousands of miles away from our shores. This is a tragedy in which we, the United States of America, are complicit. Much of what is happening right now is being done with U.S. arms and equipment. In other words, whether we like it or not, the U.S. is complicit in the nightmare that millions of Palestinians are now experiencing.
Israel must take urgent steps to open up humanitarian access. The water pipelines must be rapidly repaired and reopened; more border crossings, including in the north, must be opened; inspections must be streamlined and sped up; deconfliction of aid deliveries must be prioritized; and Israel must stop blocking essential humanitarian supplies.
These are not new issues -- these are concerns that have been repeatedly communicated to the Israeli government for months by the United States, the UN, and the global community. The Israeli government has refused to take these steps.
M. President, this has to change NOW. Tens of thousands of lives hang in the balance. If we care about human rights, and if we believe in the dignity of every human life, we cannot allow this situation to continue. This is an urgent crisis, and every day matters.
Israel is not doing what is needed, despite the repeated pleas of the United States government, including the President himself.
That is why, in my view, we need to use every tool at our disposal to make Netanyahu change his approach.
M. President, as part of that effort, last week, the Senate voted on what I consider to be a very modest step: a resolution requiring the State Department to report on any human rights violations that may have occurred in Israel's military campaign in Gaza. The resolution was based on long-standing U.S. law requiring that any security assistance or military equipment provided to any country be used in line with internationally-recognized human rights.
This is not a radical idea -- making sure that the weapons we supply any country is used consistent with US law -- yet just 11 U.S. Senators voted for the resolution.
M. President, we cannot continue turning a blind eye to the suffering in Gaza and the humanitarian catastrophe that is unfolding there. We cannot ignore the fact that it has been American bombs and military equipment that has helped cause this crisis. Given the scale of the disaster, how can any member of the Senate say they don't want to know how billions in U.S. military aid is being used? How can we not want to have that very simple information?
M. President, my colleagues and I will continue to push for this information, which is absolutely necessary for Congress to conduct its oversight duties.
But in addition to getting answers, M. President, I believe the United States must use all of our leverage to end this horrific war. And the primary leverage we have over the Israeli government is the billions in military aid we provide to them every year and the $14 billion being proposed for Israel in the supplemental bill.
We must loudly and clearly say NO to Netanyahu's indiscriminate bombing, NO to this man-made humanitarian catastrophe, and NO to the tremendous human suffering it is causing.
We must use our leverage to demand an end to the bombing, a humanitarian ceasefire to allow aid to flow to those who are suffering and to secure the release of the more than 130 hostages still being held in Gaza. We must also demand that the Israeli government begin the necessary work to lay the groundwork for a two-state solution.
Source