NEW YORK, August 5 (RIA Novosti) – The human rights group Amnesty International says the United States will have “more blood on its hands” if it continues supplying fuel to the Israeli forces that are battling Palestinian militants in Hamas-run Gaza.
“By continuing to supply fuel for military vehicles and fighter jets being used in attacks resulting in mounting civilian deaths and horrific injuries, the US government will have more blood on its hands,” the group’s arms expert Brian Wood said.
“Instead of continuing to send shipments of fuel and arms to the Israeli military, the USA must immediately suspend all such transfers and back an international investigation into the atrocities being carried out by both sides,” the expert added.
The United States has provided Israel with hundreds of thousands of tons of fuel, including fuel for fighter jets and military vehicles, Amnesty says. A tanker with the latest US fuel shipment is due to arrive in Israel on 12 August.
Some 1,870 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and 67 Israelis, mostly soldiers, have died since Israel began its offensive on Gaza on July 8, following rocket attacks by Palestinian militants. Rights groups condemn the carnage but Israel says it must act in self-defense.
