Today was the start of a busy week on Capitol Hill – and we need your help to make our voices heard.
This week, the Senate is continuing to negotiate over the president’s supplemental funding request, which includes $14.3 billion for Israel along with funding for Ukraine, Taiwan, humanitarian programs, and border security.
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Click here to send a letter to your House member and Senators, and urge them to pass the emergency funding request for Israel without added conditions.
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Congress will likely also vote this week on the National Defense Authorization Act. This broad bipartisan bill includes many important pro-Israel provisions that AIPAC has lobbied for, including $500 million for missile defense programs and increased funding for counter drone cooperation.
The Israel Defense Forces are gaining new ground in Gaza as the military encircles "the last strongholds of Hamas" in two major areas in the north. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says the Hamas battalions in those areas are "on the verge of being dismantled."
Gallant also noted that more Hamas operatives have surrendered over the past 24 hours. The Israeli operation is also continuing in the southern part of the Strip, as the IDF presses into the heart of Khan Younis.
Today, Israel announced that it would help facilitate a surge of humanitarian resources into Gaza by opening the Kerem Shalom crossing, to inspect trucks and goods intended for Palestinians. The Kerem Shalom crossing was the primary facility used to transport goods into Gaza before October 7, but was attacked by Hamas during the massacre.
The increase in needed supplies comes as footage from Gaza shows Hamas stealing food and water from humanitarian organizations.
"We have to rewrite the textbook."
Doctors and medical professionals who are treating the returned hostages are speaking out about what the captives endures in Gaza . "The physical, the sexual, the mental, the psychological abuse of these hostages that came back is just terrible," said Renana Eitan, director of the psychiatric division of Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Medical Center. "We have to rewrite the textbook."
In this clip, doctors discuss the trauma facing Israeli children who have returned from Hamas captivity to find their previous worlds destroyed – their homes gone and family members killed.
137 Israelis are still held captive by Hamas in Gaza, including 15 women and children. The International Red Cross has not visited any of the hostages, despite the Biden administration, the Israeli government, and families of the hostages urging the organization to do so.
For the latest news and updates, follow AIPAC on social media.
The mission of AIPAC is to encourage and persuade the U.S. government to enact specific policies that create a strong, enduring and mutually beneficial relationship with our ally Israel.
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