1. United States
2. N.Y.
3. Letter

On May 5, Israel’s security cabinet unanimously approved a new plan to escalate operations in Gaza, including the “conquest” of the territory and the promotion of the “voluntary migration” of its population into Egypt’s Sinai Desert. This is the annexation of Gaza and the ethnic cleansing of its citizens —against the backdrop of a 9-week starvation and aid blockade and continued bombings across the strip. The approved plan includes the military occupation of the Gaza Strip, full territorial control, and the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians to southern Gaza, nearer to the Rafah border crossing into Sinai. This proposal is far from new. It continues a 77-year history of forced displacement and ethnic cleansing. As of 2021, there were 9.17 million displaced Palestinians worldwide, unable to return to their ancestral lands. Any Palestinian who relocates, forcefully or voluntarily, to another country will not be allowed to return. Many Palestinians in Gaza therefore, understandably, refuse relocation orders. Israel’s solution to this problem will be to continue to deny areas of Gaza not under their control food and aid — continuing their campaign of war crimes and genocide. People in Gaza are terrified, starving, and suffering after 17 months of genocide and a humanitarian blockade — tens of thousands are living with painful injuries and permanent disabilities from Israeli attacks that have deliberately targeted civilians. Every hospital and bakery has been heavily damaged or destroyed. Displaced camps are targeted constantly, with people being burned alive in their tents. Journalists and aid workers have been directly targeted and massacred on a scale unseen in any other recorded conflict. Nearly everyone in Gaza is enduring the unbearable grief of losing loved ones — in many cases, their entire families. These atrocities echo the beginnings of some of the worst humanity has seen, including the Holocaust and the genocide of Indigenous people in America, which also started by starving and“removing” people. The ethnic cleansing of two million Palestinians—including one million children—is being enabled by the inaction of the international community — a community that once swore, “never again.” As your constituent, I call on you to take immediate action: Impose a two-way arms and trade embargo on Israel. End all diplomatic relations with the apartheid regime. Recognize the State of Palestine immediately. Demand international investigations and accountability for war crimes. Stand up and act now. Millions of people face a painful, cruel extermination, and you have the power to help stop it.