Protesters wearing red paint on their hands repeatedly disrupted a congressional hearing on US military aid on Tuesday, demanding that Washington halt backing Israel’s struggle against Hamas.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin were lobbying the Senate Appropriations Committee for billions of dollars in military aid to Israel, Ukraine, and other security costs.
Two dozen spectators lifted their hands in a sign of the bloodshed in the Gaza Strip after Israel began bombarding the Palestinian enclave following Hamas’s attack earlier this month.
Several wore messages of “Free Gaza” written on their arms and held signs demanding “No more $$$ 4 Israel,” while some cried out “Ceasefire now,” “Palestinians are not animals” and “Shame on you all.”
One man wore a shirt reading “Stop backing genocide.”
Blinken was forced to pause many times as police led some demonstrators out.
President Joe Biden has requested more than $105 billion in security funding from Congress, including $14.3 billion for the country’s longtime ally, Israel.
On Tuesday, Israeli troops and Hamas militants engaged in “fierce battles” in Gaza, according to Israel’s military, as tanks and armored bulldozers marched through the rubble of the beleaguered region, which the UN says is suffering “unprecedented” humanitarian demands.
According to the most recent tally from the Hamas-run health ministry, Israel’s reaction to the Hamas onslaught has killed over 8,500 people, many of them children.
According to Israeli officials, the siege follows the worst attack in Israel’s history, in which Hamas fighters massacred about 1,400 people in a savage cross-border invasion.