US SENATE BLOCKS RESOLUTION ON AMERICANS KILLED IN WEST BANK

The US Senate blocked a resolution on Tuesday that would have required the State Department to report to Congress within 30 days on violence in the occupied West Bank, including the killing of nine American citizens and Israel's treatment of Palestinian children in military detention. The vote fell largely along party lines. One account put the result at 47 to 53, while another recorded it as 47 to 51; both agree the resolution failed to advance. Democratic senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania voted against the resolution alongside Republicans, while Republican senator Rand Paul of Kentucky voted in favour alongside Democrats.

The resolution was brought by Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat from Maryland, who forced the vote under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, a law allowing lawmakers to demand human rights reports on countries receiving US security assistance. It drew 24 Democratic co-sponsors, including Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Tim Kaine of Virginia and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire. According to one report, nine Americans have been killed by Israeli settlers or security forces in the West Bank since 2022. Named victims include Sayfollah Musallet, killed in Sinjil in July 2025, whose family said settlers surrounded him for more than three hours and blocked an ambulance from reaching him, and Khamis Ayyad, a father of five, who died of smoke inhalation after settlers set fire to cars and homes in Silwad. Tawfic Abdel Jabbar and Mohammad Khdour were shot dead in separate incidents in early 2024.

Van Hollen said before the vote that there had been "no accountability" from the Israeli government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or from the US government, despite the deaths and what he described as the wrongful detention of other Americans. After the vote, he said in a statement that it was "clear the United States must do more" and that the resolution had been an opportunity to highlight the gap between US law and the actions of recipients of American taxpayer funds. No further congressional action on the matter was reported.