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The State Department announced Friday that it was imposing sanctions on a right-wing Israeli group that tried to prevent aid from reaching people in the Gaza Strip by blocking trucks coming from Jordan to the coastal enclave .
The department’s press release said the sanctioned organization, Tzav 9, was “a violent extremist Israeli group that blocks, harasses and damages convoys carrying vital humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza.”
Members of the group have tried for months to prevent humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza, the department said. They blocked the roads on which aid trucks travel between Jordan and Gaza, including in the West Bank, and in some cases attacked the trucks, damaging them and dumping aid packages on the road, the agency said.
The department also said Tzav 9 members looted and then set fire to two Gaza-bound aid trucks near the West Bank city of Hebron on May 13.
“We will not tolerate acts of sabotage and violence targeting this critical humanitarian assistance,” the State Department said. “We will continue to use every tool at our disposal to promote accountability for those who attempt or undertake such heinous acts, and we expect and urge Israeli authorities to do the same. »
In a statement after the sanctions were announced, Tzav 9 denounced the US decision and defended itself, saying they had “carried out democratic and peaceful protests that only involved roadblocks and demonstrations, without any harm to people or property, against the direct transfer of aid. in the hands of Hamas.
The State Department designation means the group and its members are prohibited from engaging in commercial and financial transactions with U.S. entities. All their property and assets in the United States will be frozen. It’s unclear what practical impact this will have on the group, but many Israelis have close ties to the United States and some have dual citizenship.
US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken has stressed the importance of ensuring that trucks carrying aid reach Gaza, even as the State Department continues to approve arms orders from ‘Israel, consistent with President Biden’s policy of supporting Israel in its war in Gaza. . He visited a warehouse in Jordan where trucks were loaded with this aid, as well as the Kerem Shalom checkpoint on the Israeli border, where many aid trucks are inspected and enter Gaza.
The U.S. military has built a floating pier on the Gaza coast from which aid shipments can be delivered to the territory, but those efforts have been plagued by problems.
The Tzav 9 organization was founded during the war between Hamas and Israel – the name refers to an Israeli military mobilization order – by activists who aimed to stop humanitarian aid convoys to Gaza, which, according to they would strengthen Hamas.
Sefi Ben Haim, a Tzav 9 activist, worked for months to prevent humanitarian convoys from entering Gaza from Israel at the Kerem Shalom border crossing. Mr. Ben Haim, a resident of Netivot, a town near the border with Gaza, said many Palestinians in Gaza bore responsibility for the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, citing scenes of civilians crossing the border, following Hamas militants.
For months, activists tried to prevent humanitarian convoys by blocking roads, but conflicts worsened in May, when Israelis repeatedly attacked trucks, smashing windows and throwing goods onto the road. Several Palestinians and soldiers were injured in the melee that followed, according to the Israeli army and Palestinian witnesses.
Such attacks are typically staged on the messaging platform WhatsApp, with Israeli settlers reporting that a convoy of trucks has been spotted approaching a specific intersection and calling anyone nearby to approach it.
Tzav 9 activists sought to distance themselves from the most violent attacks and ended their protests last month.
