US imposes sanctions on Israeli group for attacks on aid convoys in Gaza Strip | News on the Israel-Palestine conflict

The Biden administration says the Israeli government has a “responsibility” to protect humanitarian trucks heading to Gaza.

Washington, DC – The United States has imposed sanctions on a “violent extremist” Israeli group for blocking and damaging humanitarian aid convoys to Gaza as the threat of famine grows in the besieged Palestinian territory.

President Joe Biden’s administration on Friday targeted the Tzav 9 group, whose stated goal is to prevent any aid from reaching Gaza, accusing the group of looting and setting fire to aid trucks.

“Providing humanitarian assistance is critical to prevent a worsening of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and reduce the risk of famine,” the US State Department said in a statement.

“The Israeli government has a responsibility to ensure the security of humanitarian convoys crossing Israel and the West Bank on their way to Gaza. We will not tolerate acts of sabotage and violence directed against this vital humanitarian aid.”

The sanctions were announced a day after Israeli media quoted Israeli police commissioner Kobi Shabtai as saying that far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir had pushed to prevent law enforcement from protecting aid convoys to Gaza.

For months, right-wing Israelis have been protesting and blocking roads to prevent aid from reaching the Gaza Strip, which is under a crushing Israeli blockade. These measures have further complicated the flow of much-needed aid into the territory.

In recent weeks, protesters have stepped up attacks on convoys, especially those traveling through the occupied West Bank. Last month, they set fire to two trucks carrying humanitarian aid in the Hebron Hills area. The US State Department blamed Tzav 9 for the attack.

The sanctions block the group’s assets in the US and largely prohibit American citizens from conducting transactions with them. They were imposed under an Executive Order (EO) issued by Biden that creates a legal framework for US penalties against individuals and companies that “undermine peace, security and stability” in the occupied West Bank.

Last week, the Biden administration issued the same order to impose sanctions on the Palestinian armed group Lion’s Den.

Yet Washington resisted calls to punish Israeli officials responsible for abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank, including Ben-Gvir and ultranationalist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

This month, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen called on the Biden administration to use the executive order to take action against Smotrich.

“In my view, Smotrich should be sanctioned under this EO,” Van Hollen said.

The finance minister withheld taxes owed to the Palestinian Authority and declared 800 hectares in the West Bank as Israeli state land in March.

“Here we have a person whose stated goal is for Israel to take over essentially the entire West Bank,” Van Hollen told the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank.

Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), an advocacy organization that recommended sanctions against Tzav 9, welcomed Friday’s measures and called on Biden to also target companies and individuals that fund and support the group.

“The recent revelations that Israeli Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir ordered police to stand down and allow Tzav 9 to block aid convoys show how this despicable strategy of starving young settler activists is coordinated all the way up to the highest levels of the Israeli government,” Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man, Israel-Palestine research director at DAWN, said in a statement.

“The United States should stop ignoring the Israeli government’s involvement in these crimes and should next impose sanctions on Ben-Gvir.”

Human rights activists also called on Washington to put pressure on Israel to lift the siege on the Gaza Strip.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said this week that Israel had taken “important steps” in recent months to remove obstacles to aid deliveries to Gaza, but acknowledged that the country “can and must do more”.

“It is crucial to speed up inspection of trucks and reduce backlogs, provide more clarity on prohibited goods and shorten the list of these, issue more visas for aid workers and speed up their processing,” he said on Tuesday at a Gaza aid conference in Jordan.

Blinken also called for “clearer and more effective channels” to protect humanitarian workers from military operations.