Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) accused Israel of engaging in an genocide in Gaza during a pointed House floor speech on Friday.
“If you want to know what an unfolding genocide looks like, open your eyes,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “It looks like the forced famine of 1.1 million innocents. It looks like thousands of children eating grass as their bodies consume themselves, while trucks of food are slowed and halted just miles away.”
Friday marked the first time the congresswoman has publicly called the ongoing violence in Gaza ― where more than 30,000 people have been killed by Israeli forces ― a genocide. Of those deaths, more than 25,000 have been women and children, killed in an offensive launched in response to the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel.
Ocasio-Cortez pointed to warnings of Gaza’s imminent famine amid several reports that Israeli forces have fired on people waiting for aid.
“A famine … is being intentionally precipitated through the blocking of food and global humanitarian assistance by leaders in the Israeli government,” she said. “This is a mass starvation of people, engineered and orchestrated.”
She added that President Joe Biden should suspend the transfer of U.S. weapons to the Israeli government, saying that “honoring our alliances does not mean facilitating mass killing.”
Biden has faced criticism over the past several months for his failure to rein in the Israeli military campaign, as the U.S. has continued to fund aid to Israel. During a White House press conference in February, Biden admitted Israel’s response has been “over the top.”
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly listed Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as a Republican. She is a Democrat.