Washington, DC | www.adc.org | August 28, 2024 – Overnight, the Israeli Occupation Forces initiated the largest military invasion of the occupied West Bank since 2002 attacking Jenin, Tulkarm, and al-Fara’a refugee camp. The operation has included airstrikes destroying homes and infrastructure, as well as the intentional targeting of healthcare workers and hospitals. At least 10 Palestinians have been killed in this assault by the IOF, who continues to use US made and provided weapons to expand its genocidal campaign against Palestinians living under occupation from Gaza into the West Bank. The attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank are not just coming from military assaults, but also through the arming and unleashing of settlers on Palestinian towns and villages at an unprecedented rate to steal land from, terrorize, and kill Palestinians. As we have done for the past eleven months, ADC is demanding an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the end to occupation, and an embargo of all weapon sales and transfers to Israel. We call on our members to demand the same of their elected representatives in Congress.
Demand that Congress Impose an Arms Embargo Today!
In the latest assault described by the Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz as “a war in every sense”, the IOF is carrying out extrajudicial killings using US made and provided weapons while actively preventing paramedics and ambulances from helping injured Palestinians. Video evidence already shows that IOF soldiers stopped ambulances on their way to the hospital in Jenin, forcing paramedics to remove their vests before allowing them to continue. In al-Fara’a refugee camp, the IOF forcibly removed paramedics from their station, lined them up against a wall, and prevented them from doing their duty. Adding to the horrors we are witnessing today, Katz is also calling for an evacuation of Palestinians in the West Bank similar to what was done to Palestinians in Gaza.
ADC National Executive Director Abed Ayoub said, “This assault on the occupied West Bank we see today is an extension of Israel’s genocidal violence against Palestinians in Gaza. The IOF was able to normalize the targeting of health infrastructure and is now able to do so with impunity in the West Bank. They normalized the forcible transfer of Palestinians in Gaza under the guise of a “temporary evacuation” and are now able to suggest the same of Palestinians in the West Bank. This gross disregard for international law, combined with the inability of Biden and his administration to follow US law, makes the violence we are seeing in the West Bank today another piece of evidence that Israel is seeking to destroy the Palestinian people. What we need now is not toothless words of concern from those in power, we need an arms embargo of all weapons sales and transfers to Israel.”