Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) said Monday he will oppose “any” support for Israel amid the hunger crisis in Gaza.
“I am through supporting the actions of the current Israeli government and will advocate—and vote—for an end to any United States support whatsoever until there is a demonstrable change in the direction of Israeli policy,” King said in a statement on his website.
“My litmus test will be simple: no aid of any kind as long as there are starving children in Gaza due to the action or inaction of the Israeli government,” he added.
On Monday, President Trump indicated a break with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where the president stated there was “real starvation” happening.
Trump said to reporters during a meeting alongside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer that he was “not particularly” in line with Netanyahu’s claim that there was no starvation occurring in Gaza, which has faced mass destruction and death in Israel’s war against Hamas.
“I mean, based on television, I would say not particularly because those children look very hungry,” Trump told reporters when asked about Netanyahu’s claim.
Gaza humanitarian director for Save the Children Rachael Cummings said that the situation for Gazans is “catastrophic” and that children “are literally starving.”
“The situation in Gaza is catastrophic for children and increasingly now for adults. There is no food available in the market. Children are literally starving,” Cummings said on ABC’s “This Week.”
King said in his Monday statement that he “cannot defend the indefensible,” adding that “Israel’s actions in the conduct of the war in Gaza, especially its failure to address the unimaginable humanitarian crisis now unfolding, is an affront to human decency.”
“What appears to be a deliberately-induced famine among a civilian population—including tens of thousands of starving children—can never be an acceptable military strategy,” he continued.
