Senators say US is complicit in Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Gaza

September 12, 2025

Joseph Gedeon in Washington

Two Democratic senators claim they have reached the “inescapable conclusion” that Israel is acting on a systematic plan to destroy and ethnically cleanse Palestinians from Gaza to force local people to leave, and they say the US is complicit.

Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Jeff Merkley of Oregon, both members of the Senate foreign relations committee, released their findings in a report on Thursday after returning from a congressional delegation to the Middle East where, they note, the destruction goes beyond bombs and bullets. They say they also found a systematic campaign to strangle humanitarian aid, which they call “using food as a weapon of war”.

Palestinians flee southward due to intensified Israeli attacks and forced evacuation warnings in northern Gaza, on Thursday. Photograph: Anadolu via Getty Images