Reps. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.), Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.), Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) and Eugene Vindman (D-Va.) penned a letter to Yechiel Leiter, the Israeli ambassador to the United States, in which they claimed, as military veterans, to know that “flooding” Gaza with aid would “take away the leverage that scarce aid has provided to Hamas.”
“Food scarcity has provided Hamas an opportunity to weaponize aid for profit and control. We urge Israel, instead, to flood Gaza with humanitarian aid,” the Democrats stated. “If food is abundant and easily available, it will deny Hamas the ability to use it as an instrument of coercion.”
The lawmakers said the United States “admittedly learned many lessons the hard way” in more than 20 years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“We almost never saw insurgents using food as a weapon, because we helped ensure it was always in ample supply,” the lawmakers said. “We strongly believe Israel would benefit from adopting a similar strategy, especially since it will take away leverage from Hamas.”
Providing more aid than before would show Palestinians that “their future is protected not by Hamas but by the international community, and it will help pave the way to a ceasefire that includes the return of remaining hostages and, ultimately, a long-term political solution for lasting peace in the region.”
The United Nations has released data recently suggesting that Hamas and others frequently loot incoming aid. The global body has not released data indicating how much food was offloaded and collected, and how much arrived and was looted during the temporary ceasefire from Jan. 19 to March 18.
The data on intercepted aid in a U.N. tool only dates back to May 19.
