The money could “result in thousands of Palestinian victims in the Gaza Strip” and the West Bank, said Nabil Abu Rudeina, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, condemning what he called a “dangerous escalation”.

The bill approved by the lower house of the US Congress today provides $13 billion (about €12 billion) in military aid to Israel, a historic ally of the United States, which has been at war with the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip for over six months.

The money will be used to strengthen the Israeli anti-missile shield, the “Iron Dome”.

Over nine billion dollars (€8.4 billion) is intended to “meet urgent humanitarian needs in Gaza and other vulnerable populations worldwide”, according to a summary of the document.

The bill, however, prohibits any direct US funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), after Israel accused some of its workers of involvement in the 7 October attack last year, perpetrated by Hamas.

The bill must still be approved by the Senate, where the Democratic Party has a small majority.

On 7 October last year, fighters from the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) – in power in the Gaza Strip since 2007 and classified as a terrorist organisation by the United States, the European Union and Israel – carried out an attack on Israeli territory of unprecedented proportions since the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, killing 1,163 people, mostly civilians, and taking 250 hostages, of whom around 130 remain in captivity and 34 are believed to have died, according to the latest figures from the Israeli authorities.

In retaliation, Israel declared a war to “eradicate” Hamas, which is now in its 197th day, and continues to threaten to spread to the entire Middle East region, and has so far caused over 34,000 deaths, over 76,200 injuries and thousands of missing people presumed buried in the rubble, mostly civilians, in the Gaza Strip, according to the latest figures from the local authorities.

The conflict has also displaced almost two million people, plunging the poor and overpopulated Palestinian enclave into a serious humanitarian crisis, with over 1.1 million people in a “catastrophic hunger situation” that is already claiming victims – “the highest number ever recorded” by the UN in studies on food security in the world.

In the West Bank and East Jerusalem, territories occupied by the Jewish State, at least 480 Palestinians have been killed since 7 October by Israeli forces and in attacks perpetrated by settlers, in addition to over 3,000 injuries and almost 7,000 arrests.

The Jewish settlements in the West Bank, where over 490,000 Israelis live – and which continue to expand – are all illegal under international law.

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