Senators: Vote Yes to Block Weapons Sales to the Israeli Government

October 25, 2024 | by Amnesty International USA |Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territory, USA

CORRECTION / Palestinians inspect the damage after an Israeli airstrike the previous night in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip on October 20, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas militant group. (Photo by Islam AHMED / AFP) / — (ISLAM AHMED/AFP via Getty Images)

Amnesty International has documented a pattern of unlawful attacks by Israeli forces in the occupied Gaza Strip, including indiscriminate attacks, that failed to distinguish between civilians and military objectives and caused mass civilian casualties. Amnesty has documented unlawful attacks by Israeli forces in Lebanon that have killed and injured civilians. These investigations identified U.S.-made munitions and components in at least six attacks in Gaza and Lebanon that amount to war crimes.

**Amnesty calls on all Senators to cosponsor and vote YES on the Joint Resolutions of Disapproval regarding weapons sales to the Israeli government (S.J.Res.111, 112, 113, 114, 115, and 116**).

Since October 2023, Amnesty has documented a longstanding pattern of attacks by Israeli forces that have struck civilians and civilian objects consistent with the pattern of attacks during the 2008-9, 2014, and 2021 conflicts in Gaza. Currently, more than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza remain at risk of genocide and an engineered famine.

October 10, 2023 – Israeli strike on a family home in Deir al-Balah in Gaza killed 21 members of the al-Najjar family and three neighbors, including seven children. A Boeing JDAM kit was used with a bomb that likely weighed 2,000 lb.
October 16, 2023 – Israeli use of white phosphorus in Dhayra, Lebanon seriously endangered the lives of civilians, many of whom were hospitalized and displaced, and whose homes and cars caught on fire. Amnesty identified U.S.-made 155mm white phosphorus shells.
October 22, 2023 – Israeli strike on three family homes north of Deir Al-Balah in Gaza killed 18 members of the Mu’eileq family, including 12 children, and one neighbor. A Boeing JDAM kit was used with a bomb that likely weighed at least 1,000lb.
January 9, 2024 – Israeli strike hit the top two floors of the Nofal family five-story building in Tal Al Sultan in Rafah using a Boeing GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb. The attack killed 18 Palestinian civilians, including 10 children, and wounded eight others.
April 19, 2024 – Israeli strike on four-story home of the Abu Radwan family in Tal al-Sultan in Rafah killed nine family members, including six children, and injured five relatives. Remnants of the bomb’s precision guidance package were at least partially manufactured by U.S. defense contractor AeroAntenna.
May 26, 2024 – Two Israeli airstrikes using U.S.-made GBU-39 guided bombs on the Kuwaiti Peace Camp killed at least 36 Palestinians, including 6 children. These munitions, which project deadly fragments over a wide area, were used in a crowded camp of displaced civilians.

The U.S. government continues to provide the Israeli government with weapons at a rapid pace, including more than $20 billion in new weapons sales. Congress must urgently use its authority to block these sales and enact the JRDs to block weapons to the Israeli government and ensure compliance with U.S. and international law.