Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy on Sunday said he was open to placing conditions on any aid to Israel, with the aim of reducing civilian casualties in Gaza.
The Connecticut Democrat, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union” that as lawmakers return to the Capitol Monday with the elusive goal of passing aid to Israel and Ukraine, they will discuss how to structure aid to Israel so it is used in line with human rights laws. His comments, on the third day of the truce between Israel and Hamas, come as other lawmakers — on both sides of the aisle — either didn’t rule out the idea of conditions on aid or underscored concern about minimizing civilian Palestinian casualties.
“We regularly condition our aid to allies based upon compliance with US law and international law. And, so, I think it’s very consistent with the ways in which we have dispensed aid, especially during wartime, to allies, for us to talk about making sure that the aid we give Ukraine or the aid we give Israel is used in accordance with human rights laws,” Murphy said. “And that’ll be a conversation we will all be engaged in when we get back to Washington on Monday.”
Murphy has previously called on Israel to try to further reduce civilian casualties and to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza, where more than 14,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry there, in the wake of Hamas’ brutal cross-border assault on Israel on October 7.
“I do believe that the level of civilian harm inside Gaza has been unacceptable and is unsustainable,” he said. “I think there’s both a moral cost to this many civilians, innocent civilians, children often, losing their life, but I think there’s (also) a strategic cost. Ultimately, Hamas will get stronger, not weaker, in the long run if all of this…
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