Peter Welch: “reserving the right to object, the war in Gaza has been a humanitarian catastrophe, and tens of thousands of civilians…”

“reserving the right to object, the war in Gaza has been a humanitarian catastrophe, and tens of thousands of civilians have been killed and wounded. Thousands of children are not able to obtain medical care that they urgently need. Hundreds of thousands of people in northern Gaza have been told to relocate again and again and again. There is no safe place for these innocent people to go in Gaza. Also, 100 precious lives of hostages do remain in Hamas control. And I am very upset about the escalation of anti-Israel sentiment here in our own country. But everyone is painfully aware that Hamas built its underground system of tunnels and military command beneath Gaza schools, hospitals, and other civilian structures. It is a very difficult dilemma, but the answer is not the entire destruction of Gaza. And Secretary of Defense Austin said that ``there's a better way'' to prosecute the military campaign and to eliminate Hamas while protecting civilians. That is our military leader. And that is a sentiment that is shared by many U.S. military officers, both active and retired and, incidentally, many Israeli officers. Israel has received, as my colleague from Texas knows--and as my colleague from Texas also knows--Israel has continued to receive massive amounts of U.S. weapons, ammunition, and other military aid. And the Congress passed an emergency supplemental, in addition to the fiscal year 2024 appropriations bill.…”