Since the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran and Israel’s latest war in Lebanon, the Israeli occupation army has issued "evacuation maps" covering large areas and ordering residents to flee, a tactic it had previously used in the ethnic cleansing of Gaza.
The senators said the sweeping warnings have “been used to permanently displace people and destroy homes and towns” and that some civilians who refused to leave their homes in the areas have been killed by subsequent strikes.
The United Nations has consistently rejected Israeli evacuation orders in Gaza and Lebanon, stating they violate international humanitarian law by creating "chaotic" conditions, forcing mass displacement, and failing to ensure civilian safety, which amounts to war crimes.
UN officials warn these actions result in catastrophic humanitarian tolls, destroying infrastructure and restricting aid access, urging an immediate halt and protection for civilians.
The 12 senators, led by Vermont Sen. Peter Welch, in a letter dated May 4 to CENTCOM chief Adm. Brad Cooper that was provided to The Associated Press, state that Israel’s practice of unilaterally declaring mass evacuation warnings in Lebanon and Iran “likely contravene international laws the United States has helped develop around humane warfare.”
The other signatories include senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin.
The letter asked the CENTCOM chief whether US forces had coordinated military targets with Israeli forces during the recent war with Iran, whether they provided assistance or intelligence helping Israel’s military to impose the evacuation zones in Lebanon and Iran, and whether CENTCOM signed off on US military support for the targeting of people or infrastructure in the evacuation zones. It also asked whether the US military has reviewed the legality of the practice.
The Israeli military declined to comment when asked by AP about the letter. CENTCOM did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The move is part of a considerable shift in the stance of Democratic Party leaders on US military assistance to Israel, amid growing public opposition to the US joining Israel in its wars in the region.
The letter came nearly three weeks after more than three dozen Democrats supported an effort by Sanders to block arms sales to Israel, signalling growing discontent in the party with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the wars in Gaza and Iran.
The two resolutions to block US sales of bulldozers and bombs to Israel were opposed by all Republicans and rejected 40-59 and 36-63.
Jon Finer, former deputy national security adviser under President Joe Biden, said the recent steps by Democratic senators reflect a “growing concern about Israeli conduct of various wars that cause civilian harm and US complicity in that" across the spectrum within the Democratic Party.
Asked by the AP why the Democratic Party is taking these steps now and not at the time when the Israeli wars on Gaza and Lebanon first broke out, when the Democratic Biden administration was in power, Finer said, “our operational integration with Israel appears to be growing, which is part of it, but the truth is the Democratic base has been moving in this direction for some time and Washington has been catching up.”
Andrew Miller, a former senior official on Israel and Palestinian Affairs at the State Department, told AP that the letter “represents a shift among congressional Democrats moving from questions of the legality of Israeli military operations to concerns about the complicity of the US military.”
“It demonstrates that Democrats are taking international law very seriously, and that is a welcome development,” Miller said.
The Democrats' scrutiny of Israeli war practices comes two days after thirty House Democrats led by Rep. Joaquin Castro wrote to Secretary of State Marco Rubio demanding transparency on Israel's nuclear warheads, delivery systems, the Dimona reactor (recently targeted by Iran), and any US-defined "red lines" against nuclear use in the war. They argued that longstanding US "nuclear ambiguity" toward Israel is unsustainable amid escalation risks, citing declassified intelligence on Israel's capabilities.
Israel, the only nuclear power in the Middle East with an estimated 90 to 200 warheads in its arsenal, has refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Israel has issued dozens of so-called evacuation warnings to hundreds of thousands of Lebanese civilians since the start of the latest Israeli escalation on 2 March, before bombing entire residential units in Beirut and eastern Lebanon and levelling tens of villages in the south.
The Israeli strikes against residential areas in cities across the country and villages in the south have left over 1 million people forcibly displaced.
Israel has also issued similar warnings for Iranians, both during the 12-day Israel-Iran war last year and during the US-Israeli war launched on Iran on 28 February, also bombing residential areas and killing and wounding hundreds of civilians.
In most cases, in Gaza, Iran, and Lebanon, Israeli warplanes have struck at will with or without any "evacuation orders."
The senators said the declaration of evacuation zones does not absolve Israeli and US forces “from the absolute legal responsibility to determine that each person or civilian facility targeted by drones, jets, and gunfire is, in fact, a military target.” It said the use of the zones has been linked to “the deaths of thousands of civilians," describing them as “kill zones.”
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