Kylie Atwood, Jennifer Hansler and Hande Atay Alam, CNN
Fri, 14 June 2024
The Biden administration on Friday imposed sanctions on an Israeli group for disrupting humanitarian convoys headed to Gaza.
Both the US Treasury Department and the US State Department took action against the “Tsav 9” movement for its repeated obstruction of the aid.
The sanctions against the organization are the latest punitive measure taken under an executive order targeting those perpetrating violence in the West Bank. They come as the US continues to grapple with the crisis in Gaza, where humanitarian officials say the situation has reached one of its lowest points in the entire eight-month conflict
The Tsav 9 movement, a grouping of demobilized reservists, families of hostages and settlers, has been leading protests to disrupt the critical aid convoys at Kerem Shalom, the country’s sole functioning border crossing with Gaza. Its name, meaning “Order 9,” is a reference to the emergency mobilization notices that call up reservists.
At the end of February, the area was declared a closed military zone, due to international pressure, but protesters continued to arrive and try to outmaneuver the police.
“For months, individuals from Tzav 9 have repeatedly sought to thwart the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, including by blockading roads, sometimes violently, along their route from Jordan to Gaza, including in the West Bank,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Friday.
“They also have damaged aid trucks and dumped life-saving humanitarian aid onto the road. On May 13, 2024, Tzav 9 members looted and then set fire to two trucks near Hebron in the West Bank carrying humanitarian aid destined for men, women, and children in Gaza,” he said.
Miller said the Israeli government “has a responsibility to ensure the safety and security of humanitarian convoys transiting Israel and the West Bank enroute to Gaza.”
“We will not tolerate acts of sabotage and violence targeting this essential humanitarian assistance,” he said. “We will continue to use all tools at our disposal to promote accountability for those who attempt or undertake such heinous acts, and we expect and urge that Israeli authorities do the same.”
In a statement Friday, Tsav 9 described the Biden administration’s imposition of sanctions as “shocking,” adding, “It is a fatal blow to the families who aim to stop the aid to the enemy Hamas in time of war.”
The statement also accused the Biden administration of acting “against the families of hostages who fight to get their loved ones back from Hamas’s hands.”
The statement claimed without evidence that aid “falls directly into the hands of the terrorist organization Hamas.” The US and humanitarian aid organizations say they are not aware of widespread diversion of humanitarian assistance by Hamas.
Reuters first reported that the sanctions were being imposed.
President Joe Biden signed an executive order earlier this year allowing sanctions on those causing West Bank violence. The order has been used to roll out sanctions on Israeli settlers attacking Palestinians in recent months.
CNN’s Clarissa Ward and Brent Swails contributed to this report.
Israeli ‘violent extremist group’ that blocked and destroyed Gaza aid sanctioned by US
Andrew Feinberg
THE INDEPENDENT
Fri, 14 June 2024
Humanitarian aid being trucked into Gaza (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
The United States has imposed sanctions on an Israeli extremist group that has blocked and destroyed shipments of humanitarian aid meant to alleviate conditions in Gaza.
In a statement, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the US was sanctioning an organization called Tzav 9, which he described as “a violent extremist Israeli group that has been blocking, harassing, and damaging convoys carrying life-saving humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians in Gaza.”
Miller explained that members of the group have spent months seeking to stop needed aid from reaching Gaza by blocking roads between Jordan and Gaza, occasionally using violence while doing so.
He also said the group’s members have damaged aid trucks and spilled aid onto roads, including during an incident last month when group members “looted and then set fire to two trucks near Hebron in the West Bank carrying humanitarian aid destined for men, women, and children in Gaza”. Miller stressed that the Israeli government remains responsible for protecting humanitarian aid convoys as they bring “vital” assistance to Gaza during conditions that many have described as a famine.
“We will not tolerate acts of sabotage and violence targeting this essential humanitarian assistance. We will continue to use all tools at our disposal to promote accountability for those who attempt or undertake such heinous acts, and we expect and urge that Israeli authorities do the same,” he said.
The sanctions against Tzav 9 are being imposed under an executive order signed by President Joe Biden which gives the State Department the power to target entities found to be “responsible for or complicit in, or having directly or indirectly engaged or attempted to engage in actions — including directing, enacting, implementing, enforcing, or failing to enforce policies — that threaten the peace, security, or stability of the West Bank.”
Last month, the department imposed sanctions on a Palestinian group known as Lions’ Den, which is headquartered in the Old City section of Nablus. Miller noted that the group had claimed responsibility for a pair of shootings in the fall of 2022, including an October 2022 incident that saw bullets fired at a taxi driver as well as shots directed at a settlement called Har Bracha.
The US has also sanctioned two Israeli settlers — Yinon Levi and David Chai Chasdai — as well as a pair of groups that raised funds for the settlers. Levi and Chasdai have been known to engage in violence against Palestinians living in the West Bank, according to the State Department.
Fri, 14 June 2024
Humanitarian aid being trucked into Gaza (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
The United States has imposed sanctions on an Israeli extremist group that has blocked and destroyed shipments of humanitarian aid meant to alleviate conditions in Gaza.
In a statement, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the US was sanctioning an organization called Tzav 9, which he described as “a violent extremist Israeli group that has been blocking, harassing, and damaging convoys carrying life-saving humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians in Gaza.”
Miller explained that members of the group have spent months seeking to stop needed aid from reaching Gaza by blocking roads between Jordan and Gaza, occasionally using violence while doing so.
He also said the group’s members have damaged aid trucks and spilled aid onto roads, including during an incident last month when group members “looted and then set fire to two trucks near Hebron in the West Bank carrying humanitarian aid destined for men, women, and children in Gaza”. Miller stressed that the Israeli government remains responsible for protecting humanitarian aid convoys as they bring “vital” assistance to Gaza during conditions that many have described as a famine.
“We will not tolerate acts of sabotage and violence targeting this essential humanitarian assistance. We will continue to use all tools at our disposal to promote accountability for those who attempt or undertake such heinous acts, and we expect and urge that Israeli authorities do the same,” he said.
The sanctions against Tzav 9 are being imposed under an executive order signed by President Joe Biden which gives the State Department the power to target entities found to be “responsible for or complicit in, or having directly or indirectly engaged or attempted to engage in actions — including directing, enacting, implementing, enforcing, or failing to enforce policies — that threaten the peace, security, or stability of the West Bank.”
Last month, the department imposed sanctions on a Palestinian group known as Lions’ Den, which is headquartered in the Old City section of Nablus. Miller noted that the group had claimed responsibility for a pair of shootings in the fall of 2022, including an October 2022 incident that saw bullets fired at a taxi driver as well as shots directed at a settlement called Har Bracha.
The US has also sanctioned two Israeli settlers — Yinon Levi and David Chai Chasdai — as well as a pair of groups that raised funds for the settlers. Levi and Chasdai have been known to engage in violence against Palestinians living in the West Bank, according to the State Department.
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