US restrictions ‘extremist Israeli group’ for stopping Gaza aid

The US State Department is punishing Tsav 9 for being "a violent and extremist Israeli group" that attacked trucks and blocked convoys carrying aid to Gaza.

The US said that Tsav 9 activists started blocking a significant crossing, Kerem Shalom, at the beginning of the year. They then set fire to trucks and hurt drivers and IDF troops as hunger spread in Gaza.

For months, people from Tzav 9 have tried to stop the supply of emergency aid to Gaza by blocking roads and sometimes using violence to do so, a spokesman for the group said in a statement. They have also broken down aid trucks and left life-saving aid on the road.

Miller wrote about an attack in mid-May in which Tsav 9 members "robbed and then set fire to two trucks near Hebron in the West Bank that were carrying aid for Gazan men, women, and children."

The Tsav 9 news station said the measures were "shocking" and "go against all American and liberal values." The group's statement rehashed claims that Hamas took "much" of the aid meant for Gaza and sent it to other areas instead. It also said that it was speaking for the families of Israeli prisoners held by Hamas.

The group's acts were condemned around the world, but many people in Israel backed their decision to stop sending help to Gaza.

Several polls done earlier this year showed that most Israelis thought relief shipments into the Gaza Strip should stop or be limited.

Two members of the war cabinet who have since quit said at the beginning of the year that they thought Hamas could be weakened by temporarily limiting help.

At first, it did not need to be clarified how putting bans on people with ties to Tsav 9, an unofficial campaign group, or how many people who took part in its acts might be affected.

The restrictions come after a series of others put in place following a broad executive order that President Joe Biden released in February. This order lets the US punish acts that "threaten the peace, security, or stability of the West Bank."

It looked like Friday's statement was also aimed at the Israeli government, saying that it had a "duty to ensure the safety and security of humanitarian convoys transiting Israel and the West Bank en route to Gaza."

In the past few weeks, Israeli counter-protesters from the grassroots action group Standing Together have been using people shields to protect convoys.

"Humanitarian aid is vital to keeping the humanitarian crisis in Gaza from worsening and lowering the risk of famine," the US State Department said. We will not stand for acts of violence and sabotage that target this critical relief aid.

After a previous round in April, the latest round of international sanctions against settlers and radical violence that has erupted in the occupied West Bank is the one that was put on Tsav 9.

At first, they were seen as a primarily political jab at extremists, but now, some Israelis see them as a much more significant danger.