Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is demanding an investigation into whether any U.S. resources went toward Israel’s coordinated explosion of Hezbollah pagers.
“Israel’s pager attack in Lebanon detonated thousands of handheld devices across of a [sic] slew of public spaces, seriously injuring and killing innocent civilians,” the progressive New Yorker wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
“This attack clearly and unequivocally violates international humanitarian law and undermines US efforts to prevent a wider conflict. Congress needs a full accounting of the attack, including an answer from the State Department as to whether any US assistance went into the development or deployment of this technology.”
Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, Mossad, planted explosives inside 5,000 pagers imported by Hezbollah months before Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s detonations, a senior defense official confirmed to Fox News.
ISRAEL BEHIND LEBANON PAGER ATTACK TARGETING HEZBOLLAH, SENIOR US OFFICIAL SAYS
“The United States, did not know about, nor was it involved in, these incidents,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters of the pager attacks on Wednesday.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is demanding an investigation into whether any U.S. resources went toward Israel’s coordinated explosion of Hezbollah pagers. (Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images)
He then warned Israel against escalating conflict.
“We’ve been very clear and we remain very clear about the importance of all parties avoiding any steps that could further escalate the conflict that we’re trying to resolve in Gaza,” Blinken went on. “To see it spread to other fronts, it’s clearly not in the interest of anyone involved to see that happen.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., meanwhile, dropped a pair of joint resolutions that would block U.S. arms sales to Israel.
The Biden administration in August approved a series of arms sales totaling $20 billion to Israel, including “several systems that are directly tied to tens of thousands of civilian deaths in Gaza,” according to Sanders.
HEZBOLLAH PAGERS THAT EXPLODED WERE MADE IN HUNGARY, TAIWANESE COMPANY SAYS
“Congress must act to save lives, uphold U.S. and international law, and stand up for U.S. interests. We must end our complicity in Israel’s illegal and indiscriminate military campaign, which has caused mass civilian death and suffering.”
Under Senate rules, Sanders can force a vote on the resolutions as soon as next week. They would need 51 votes to be approved.
The Iranian regime-backed Hezbollah organization switched from mobile phones to pagers to prevent Israeli interception of their communications. Hezbollah joined Hamas’ war against Israel a day after the Gaza-based terrorist movement invaded the Jewish state on Oct. 7.
People gather outside the American University hospital after the arrival of several men who were wounded by exploded handheld pagers, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Bassam Masri)
First responders carry a wounded man whose handheld pager exploded at al-Zahraa hospital in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Some 2,500 people were wounded and 12 killed in the coordinated pager explosions on Tuesday. Then on Wednesday, 14 people were killed and hundreds more injured when walkie-talkies owned by Hezbollah members exploded across Lebanon on Wednesday afternoon.
Of the 26 who have died in the two attacks, Hezbollah confirmed eight were its members.
Hezbollah is estimated to have more than 150,000 missiles aimed at Israel. The de facto ruler of Lebanon, Hezbollah, has amassed new sophisticated missiles, rockets and drones since its 2006 war against Israel. Hezbollah has launched more than 7,500 missiles, rockets, and drones into Israel since Oct. 8.
One Hezbollah official said the detonation of the pagers was the group’s “biggest security breach” since the Gaza conflict began.
Hezbollah said in a statement on Wednesday that “the resistance will continue today, like any other day, its operations to support Gaza, its people and its resistance, which is a separate path from the harsh punishment that the criminal enemy (Israel) should await in response to Tuesday’s massacre.”
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Israel’s Mossad has garnered a worldwide reputation as one of the most formidable intelligence agencies.
Some 41,000 Palestinians have been killed and 95,000 injured since the outbreak of war in October, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Fox News’ Benjamin Weinthal contributed to this report.