Nearly 100 U.S. Health Workers Who Served In Gaza Demand Arms Embargo To Israel

Almost 100 American health care workers who have served in Gaza are demanding a U.S. arms embargo on Israel until a permanent cease-fire is reached — the latest plea for the Biden administration to end its unconditional support for Israel ahead of the anniversary of the country’s siege on the Palestinian territory.

In a Wednesday letter first obtained by HuffPost, the multifaith and multiethnic group of physicians, surgeons, nurses and midwives are also demanding a meeting at the White House so they can discuss Israeli war crimes they say they witnessed while volunteering in Gaza’s hospitals and clinics.

“President [Joe] Biden and Vice President [Kamala] Harris, we wish you could see the nightmares that plague so many of us since we have returned: dreams of children maimed and mutilated by our weapons, and their inconsolable mothers begging us to save them,” the letter reads.

“We wish you could hear the cries and screams our consciences will not let us forget. We cannot fathom why you continue arming the country that is deliberately killing these children en masse.”

The signatories make up the majority of American medical professionals who have worked in Gaza since Oct. 7, when Hamas militants killed 1,200 people and captured about 250 in an attack on Israel. Almost a year later, roughly 100 hostages are estimated to still be in captivity, one-third of whom are presumed dead.

In response, Israel launched its ongoing U.S.-funded bombardment of Gaza, killing what the enclave’s health ministry says is more than 42,000 Palestinians (the letter’s signatories estimate the real number is closer to 119,000, or about 5.4% of the population). Almost a thousand of those killed are Palestinian health care workers themselves,