House lawmakers press Austin on Rafah, Israel aid and Gaza pier plans

House lawmakers on Tuesday pushed Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on civilian protection plans for an imminent Israeli attack on Rafah, an upcoming assessment of Israel’s compliance with U.S. human rights and arms transfers laws, as well as the Gaza pier the military is building to deliver aid to the besieged enclave.

Austin told Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., that Israel hasn’t provided “detailed plans” to evacuate civilians from Rafah before its offensive while telling Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., his main concerns involved a “lack of execution” in sustaining an evacuation of Palestinian civilians.

“I doubt they’ll move all of them out, but the preponderance of the people, sure,” Austin told Khanna. “The number of civilian deaths will depend on what they’re doing,”

Austin’s testimony before the House Armed Services Committee came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to invade the southern portion of the Gaza strip “with or without” a hostage-for-ceasefire agreement that the U.S. has struggled to broker.

Netanyahu is under cross-pressure from rival members of his coalition on how to proceed, with War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz emphasizing a hostage deal and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich calling for “no half measures” and “total annihilation” of Rafah and other Gazan cities.

Some 1.7 million displaced Palestinians have fled to Rafah in the wake of Israel’s seven-month invasion of the enclave following Hamas’ October attack on Israel last year.

“This is not a time for vague ambiguities, will you please commit today and send a clear message to Mr. Netanyahu that he should not go into Rafah?” asked Khanna.

“What we have emphasized throughout is they must do what we expect to protect civilians in the battle space, a much better job than what we’ve seen thus far,” Austin replied.

Austin’s Monday remarks come after National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told Defense News last week “We have been absolutely clear about our grave concerns about an invasion of Rafah.”

“The president has been clear and has said publicly that our policy in Gaza will be determined by Israeli conduct in Gaza and we’ll make our decisions accordingly,” said Sullivan.

Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., also asked Austin about his role with Secretary of State Antony Blinken in submitting a report to Congress by May 8 on Israel’s use of U.S. military aid.

Under an executive memorandum President Joe Biden signed in February the Pentagon and State Department must assess Israel’s compliance with human rights laws in a report to Congress, with noncompliance possibly resulting in the suspension of military aid.

“The assessment that’s upcoming, as you know State is working on that assessment,” Austin told Sherrill. “I’ll confer with [Secretary of State Antony] Blinken at some point, but we’ve not had that conversation yet,” Austin told Sherill.

Reuters reported last week that some senior U.S. officials working on the assessment have advised Blinken that Israel is not abiding by international humanitarian law in Gaza.

Additionally, Slotkin and Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., pushed Austin on force protection plans for the $320 million pier the Biden administration s building to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza amid ongoing Israeli restrictions on assistance.

Austin said Israeli forces would respond if U.S. troops came under fire from Hamas or other militant groups.

“Given the difference we have with the Israelis on civilian casualties, we better get right clear on what their response is going to be when we are shot at because I do not think many Americans feel it reflects the same values that we have here,” said Slotkin.

Gaetz also criticized the pier plan for the potential for U.S. troops to come under attack and said Congress should hold a military authorization vote on whether to allow it.

Congress passed $14 billion in additional Israel military aid earlier this month as part of a $95 billion package that also included Ukraine and Taiwan security assistance.

Bryant Harris is the Congress reporter for Defense News. He has covered U.S. foreign policy, national security, international affairs and politics in Washington since 2014. He has also written for Foreign Policy, Al-Monitor, Al Jazeera English and IPS News.

周二，众议院议员们就以色列即将对拉法发动的袭击的平民保护计划、即将对以色列遵守美国人权和武器转让法的情况进行评估，以及军方正在建造的用于向被围困的加沙地带运送援助物资的码头等问题，向国防部长劳埃德·奥斯汀施压。

奥斯汀告诉密歇根州民主党众议员埃莉萨·斯洛特金，以色列在发动进攻前没有提供从拉法撤离平民的“详细计划”，同时告诉加利福尼亚州民主党众议员罗·卡纳，他主要担心的是，在持续撤离巴勒斯坦平民方面“缺乏执行力”。

“我怀疑他们不会把所有人都转移走，但绝大多数人肯定会，”奥斯汀告诉卡纳。“平民死亡人数将取决于他们的行动。”

奥斯汀在众议院军事委员会作证之前，以色列总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡誓言要入侵加沙地带南部，“无论是否”达成美国一直努力斡旋的以人质换取停火的协议。

内塔尼亚胡在如何推进此事上面临着来自其执政联盟内部反对派成员的交叉压力，战争部长本尼·甘茨强调要达成人质协议，而财政部长贝扎莱尔·斯莫特里奇则呼吁“不采取任何折中措施”，并“彻底摧毁”拉法和其他加沙城市。

去年10月哈马斯袭击以色列后，以色列对以色列进行了长达7个月的入侵，此后约有170万流离失所的巴勒斯坦人逃往拉法。

“现在不是含糊其辞的时候，请你今天就做出承诺，向内塔尼亚胡先生发出明确的信息，那就是他不应该进入拉法。”卡纳问道。

奥斯汀回答说：“我们一直强调的是，他们必须做到我们期望他们做到的，即在战场上保护平民，而且要比我们迄今为止看到的做得更好。”

奥斯汀周一发表上述言论之前，国家安全顾问杰克·沙利文上周告诉《防务新闻》：“我们已经非常明确地表达了我们对拉法遭到入侵的严重关切。”

苏利文说：“总统已经明确表示，并且公开说过，我们对加沙的政策将取决于以色列在加沙的行为，我们将据此做出决定。”

新泽西州众议员米基·谢里尔 (Mikie Sherrill) 还询问奥斯汀，他与国务卿安东尼·布林肯 (Antony Blinken) 一起，在 5 月 8 日之前向国会提交了一份关于以色列使用美国军事援助的报告，他扮演了什么角色。

根据乔·拜登总统2月份签署的一份行政备忘录，五角大楼和国务院必须向国会提交一份报告，评估以色列遵守人权法的情况，不遵守人权法可能会导致暂停军事援助。

“正如你所知，国务院正在进行一项评估工作，”奥斯汀告诉谢里尔。“我会在某个时候与（国务卿安东尼·）布林肯商议，但我们还没有进行过这方面的谈话，”奥斯汀告诉谢里尔。

路透社上周报道称，一些参与评估的美国高级官员已告知布林肯，以色列在加沙没有遵守国际人道主义法。

此外，斯洛特金和佛罗里达州共和党众议员马特·盖茨就拜登政府斥资 3.2 亿美元建造的码头的部队保护计划向奥斯汀施压，该码头旨在向加沙运送人道主义援助，而以色列仍在限制援助。

奥斯汀表示，如果美军遭到哈马斯或其他武装组织的袭击，以色列军队将予以还击。

“鉴于我们在平民伤亡问题上与以色列存在分歧，我们最好弄清楚当我们遭到枪击时他们的反应是什么，因为我认为很多美国人并不认为这反映了我们这里所秉持的价值观，”斯洛特金说。

盖茨还批评了码头计划，认为该计划可能导致美军遭到攻击，并表示国会应该就此进行军事授权投票，以决定是否允许该计划实施。

本月初，国会通过了一项总额为 950 亿美元的援助计划，其中包括向以色列追加 140 亿美元的军事援助，该计划还包括对乌克兰和台湾的安全援助。

布莱恩特·哈里斯是《防务新闻》的国会记者。自2014年以来，他一直在华盛顿报道美国外交政策、国家安全、国际事务和政治。他还曾为《外交政策》、《Al-Monitor》、《半岛电视台英语频道》和IPS新闻撰稿。