![Photo shows the interior of the US House of Representatives. [Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/GettyImages-1556021315.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
The US House of Representatives yesterday rejected a Republican-led bill that would provide $17.6 billion to Israel.
The vote was 250 for and 180 against, with 166 Democrats and 14 Republicans opposing the measure, falling short of the two-thirds majority needed for passage.
Many who voted against the bill cited Israel’s continued offensive in the Gaza Strip, calling for stronger human rights protections in the region and humanitarian aid packages for Palestinians.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Sunday that the bill is “even worse than we expected” and “If this bill reaches the House, it will be dead on arrival.”
While Representative Ro Khanna said he would “vote no because this bill includes zero humanitarian aid while children are dying and 400,000 Gazans face famine. I will vote no because this bill undermines human rights and international law, ignoring the recent ICJ decision.”
“There come moments in a nation’s history,” he added, “when our actions reveal our values. This is such a moment. We must stand for stopping the bombing, for ending this brutal war and for justice in the Middle East with a Palestinian state living side by side with Israel. ”
However, it was the crossparty representatives who voted down the bill because it did not include aid for Ukraine.
Israel launched a deadly offensive on Gaza on 7 October killing at least 27,585 Palestinians and injuring 66,978 others. It has left 85 per cent of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60 per cent of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.
READ: CNN staff divided over network’s bias on Gaza war due to Israel directives