A growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza has led to some congressional Republicans, who have been generally supportive of Israel's war against Hamas, questioning Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plans to occupy Gaza City.
Lawmakers have said the plan could be a logistical nightmare, resulting in Israel further alienating itself from the international community, as support for the country has dropped in the U.S., Axios reported.
"I'd like to know who is actually going to run it," Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., a member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee that oversees the Middle East, said to Axios.
Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., warned to Axios that "occupation for security also comes with the responsibility of providing humanitarian assistance and creating an economic future."
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., has called the situation in Gaza a "genocide."
The Israeli Security Cabinet decided by a "decisive majority" to approve Netanyahu's plan to defeat Hamas, including controlling Gaza City, the premier's office said shortly before 5 a.m. on Friday.
"A decisive majority of Security Cabinet ministers believed that the alternative plan that had been submitted to the Security Cabinet would neither achieve the defeat of Hamas nor the return of the hostages," according to Netanyahu's office.
The Israel Defense Forces will prepare for "taking control of Gaza City while distributing humanitarian assistance to the civilian population outside the combat zones," the Prime Minister's office said.
Democrats have harshly criticized the move, with Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., the chairman of the New Democrat Coalition, calling it "tactically questionable and strategically self-defeating."
"If implemented, the decision is more likely to play into Hamas' original objectives in starting this war and further unite much of the world against Israel than it is to bring home the last surviving hostages and advance the security needs of the nation," Schneider said in a statement.
Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., who represents a district with a large Jewish population, said Israel had no choice since Hamas has refused a ceasefire.
"If everyone agrees Hamas cannot remain in power and the hostages must be released, how do you expect to get there?" Lawler said to Axios. "Who is going to force that? The U.K.? France?"
Information from Jewish News Syndicate was used in this report.
Sam Barron ✉
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