The State Department announced sanctions on Friday against a right-wing Israeli group that has been blocking and destroying aid intended for Gaza.
This group, Tzav 9, has blocked, harassed, and damaged convoys carrying aid, blocked roads, and dumped life-saving humanitarian aid onto the street, and it set fire to two aid trucks in the West Bank last month, the department’s announcement said.
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said last month it was “a total outrage that there are people who are attacking and looting these convoys coming from Jordan and going to Gaza to deliver humanitarian assistance.”
These sanctions will be imposed under President Joe Biden’s February executive order on West Bank violence, which has been used to sanction Jewish settlers in the West Bank who have been involved in attacks on Palestinians.
“We will not tolerate acts of sabotage and violence targeting this essential humanitarian assistance,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement. “We will continue to use all tools at our disposal to promote accountability for those who attempt or undertake such heinous acts, and we expect and urge that Israeli authorities do the same.”
All of Gaza’s roughly 2.2 million people are facing the threat of famine. Given Gaza’s geography, aid can only enter aerially, via the Mediterranean Sea, and its land borders with Egypt and Israel, though none have been consistently available. The U.S. military has conducted airdrops, built a pier off Gaza’s coasts, and urged Israel and Egypt to keep the land crossings open for aid to come through.
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The Biden administration has provided military aid to Israel even as it has urged the Israelis to do more to safeguard civilians and allow for more aid to get through Gaza’s border crossings with Israel.
There are right-wing extremist factions in Israel that oppose allowing aid to get into Gaza, and the movement is led by Itamar Ben Gvir, Israel’s minister of national security, and he has ties to nongovernment organizations affiliated with Tzav 9, according to Axios.