US: Congress approves $95 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan

After more than two hundred days of hostilities, the US Congress gave the green light to provide billions of dollars worth of military aid to Israel to support the his campaign against Hamas.

In particular, the US Senate approved military aid height 95 billion dollars to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, sending the legislation to the president Joe Biden after months of delays and contentious debate over how much the United States should be involved in foreign wars.

The bill passed the Senate with an overwhelming majority 79-18 vote late Tuesday, after the House of Representatives had approved the package on Saturday. Biden, who worked with congressional leaders to win support, said immediately after the vote that he would sign it on Wednesday and begin the process of sending weapons to Ukraine, which is struggling to hold its front lines against of Russia.

“Tonight, a bipartisan majority in the Senate joined with the House of Representatives to answer the call of history at this critical turning point,” said the US president.

In an interview with The Associated Press shortly before the vote, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumera Democrat from New York, said that “if Congress had not voted for aid, America would have paid a price financially, politically, militarily.”

The removal of civilians will remind scenes of “Apocalypse”

According to Egyptian officials cited by the Wall Street Journal yesterday, Israel is preparing to move civilians mainly to nearby Khan Younis, where he plans to set up accommodation, food distribution centers and field hospitals.

AP Photo/Ariel Schalit

The hasty evacuation of civilians is expected to last two to three weeks and be carried out in coordination with the US, Egypt and other Arab countries such as the United Arab Emirates, while the ground operation will last at least six weeks, according to the sources. Journal.

The Israeli Defense Minister Joab Gallant made it known that “a series of measures (…) are being studied in the context of the preparation of operations in Rafa, especially for the hasty evacuation of civilians”.

“We don’t see at the moment any plan to quickly evacuate civilians” from Rafa, Fabrizio Carboni, the director of the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (ICRC), told AFP yesterday, in whose view it is not even mass removal of civilians “feasible” under current conditions.

For Jan Egelandthe Secretary General of the non-governmental organization Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), the Israeli attack on Rafah, “the largest displaced persons camp on Earth”, would lead to “a situation of Apocalypse”.

Information from APE-MPE, Times of Israel, Wall Street Journal