House progressives lash out against Israel's Gaza evacuation request
House progressives are sharply criticizing the Israel Defense Force on Friday calling for all residents of Gaza City evacuate their homes within 24 hours -- with one member referring to the request, estimated to affect 1.1 million people, as "ethnic cleansing."
"The mass expulsion of over 1 million people in a day is ethnic cleansing," Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., tweeted Friday. "The UN has already said this is 'impossible' and will have 'devastating humanitarian consequences.' We have to stop ignoring the thousands of Palestinian lives lost and millions at stake! We must use all diplomatic tools stop this."
Others, including Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wisc., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., also said the request was not possible.
"I get [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] wanting to go after Hamas. But international standards must apply, protection of innocents must be respected, and unrealistic demands like moving 1.1 million people in 24 hours is ridiculous. Israel will lose public support & hurt innocent people," he added.
"Any person can see that ordering 1+ million people to move in under 24 hours is not possible. It is unacceptable. The UN has already deemed the order 'impossible' without 'devastating humanitarian consequences,'" tweeted Ocasio-Cortez. "Humanity is at stake. Nearly half are children. We must halt this."
Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, argued Israeli retaliation on Gaza would harm Palestinians rather than Hamas terrorists.
"The Palestinian people are not Hamas. The response to Hamas' horrific terrorism cannot be mass death of innocent Palestinians. Israel, just like the U.S., must follow international law, even when Hamas does not. Our humanity is at stake."
Later Friday afternoon, a group of 55 House Democrats published a letter urging "those carrying out military operations to follow international humanitarian law and protect innocent civilian lives on both sides."
"We strongly believe that Israel’s response must take into account the millions of innocent civilians in Gaza who themselves are victims of Hamas and are suffering the consequences of their terror campaign," the letter, addressed to President Joe Biden, said.
Among the requests made of Biden were that he prioritize "communicat[ing] that Israel’s response in Gaza must be carried out according to international law and take all due measures to limit harm to innocent civilians," "work[ing] to quickly restore the delivery of food, water, fuel, electricity, and other life-saving necessities to Gaza to ensure that innocent civilians have the basics needed for survival," and "collaborat[ing] with regional partners to establish a humanitarian corridor to enable the delivery of such life-saving necessities and to allow Palestinian civilians and foreign nationals, including U.S. citizens, to seek safe haven outside of Gaza."
National security council spokesperson John Kirby acknowledged that an evacuation of that size within 24 hours is a "tall order."
"Well, I think we're going to be careful not to get into armchair quarterbacking the tactics on the ground by the IDF. What I can tell you is we understand what they're trying to do. They're trying to move civilians out of harm's way and giving them fair warning. Now, it's a tall order. It's a million people, and it's a very urban, dense environment, already a combat zone. I don't think anybody's underestimating the challenge here of affecting that evacuation," Kirby said on CNN.
In his first on-camera comments about Israel's evacuation request for northern Gaza, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant urged Gaza residents to head south. He noted that Hamas will use them as "camouflage" and "therefore we need to separate them."
"Those who want to save their life, please go south. We are going to destroy Hamas infrastructures, Hamas headquarters, Hamas military," he said.
Hamas, which U.S. officials have warned will use civilians as "human shields," has told Gaza residents to remain in their homes.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who said he spoke with Netanyahu about the need for humanitarian aid prior to the IDF's request, stressed Friday that helping Palestinians remains a priority.
"When it comes to providing for civilians in Gaza, both ensuring that they can be out of harm's way and that they can have access to the support that they need -- the humanitarian assistance the food, the medicine, water, our focus now is on helping to create safe zones. And we're doing that with leading international organizations and we're doing that engaged with Israel," Blinken said Friday at a press conference in Qatar.
But Blinken said that those efforts to help Palestinians were still being actively hindered by Hamas.
"Hamas continues to use innocent civilians as human shields and is reportedly blocking rows that Palestinians are moving the southern Gaza out of harm's way," he said. "We know the humanitarian situation is urgent. We're actively engaged with partners, including Qatar, to get aid to the those who need it."
At least 1,300 Israelis and 1,799 Palestinians have been killed since Hamas terrorists launched a surprise attack on Israel on Saturday, according to the IDF.
ABC News' Matt Seyler, Luis Martinez and Shannon Crawford contributed to this report.
