On Capitol Hill, Democratic Senators Chris Van Hollen and Jeff Merkley released a report Thursday accusing the Israeli government of “collective punishment” and “ethnic cleansing” in Gaza. The senators recently returned from a humanitarian fact-finding mission to the Rafah and Kerem Shalom border crossings into Gaza; they also visited the occupied West Bank and Jordan. This is Senator Van Hollen.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen: “From our trip, from our observations, from our firsthand accounts, it’s clear that the Netanyahu government has gone far beyond targeting Hamas to imposing collective punishment on all the people of Gaza. The title of our report is 'The Netanyahu Government Is Implementing a Plan to Ethnically Cleanse Gaza of Palestinians. America Is Complicit. The World Must Stop It.'”