The other signatories include senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin.<\/p>\n
\t The letter asked the CENTCOM chief whether US forces had coordinated military targets with Israeli forces during the recent war with Iran, whether they provided assistance or intelligence helping Israel\u2019s military to impose the evacuation zones in Lebanon and Iran, and whether CENTCOM signed off on US military support for the targeting of people or infrastructure in the evacuation zones. It also asked whether the US military has reviewed the legality of the practice.<\/p>\n The Israeli military declined to comment when asked about the letter. CENTCOM did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n In the past, Israel has said the evacuation maps aim to keep civilians out of harm\u2019s way. It says Hezbollah has positioned fighters, tunnels and weapons in civilian areas across southern Lebanon, from which it has launched hundreds of drones and missiles \u2014 without warning \u2014 into northern Israel.<\/p>\n \t Some international law experts contend that Israel\u2019s warnings are inconsistent and often overly broad and open-ended.<\/p>\n In Lebanon, residents say the warnings sometimes come with short notice or in the middle of the night, causing chaos and confusion, while in some cases, the warnings prompt evacuations but are never followed by a strike. In other cases, strikes in residential areas come with no warning.<\/p>\n A shift in the party stance<\/p>\n Observers said the move is part of a larger shift in the stance of Democratic Party leaders on US military assistance to Israel. Democrats have also been critical of the Trump administration\u2019s entry into the war with Iran alongside Israel.<\/p>\n The letter came nearly three weeks after more than three dozen Democrats supported an effort by Sanders to block arms sales to Israel, signaling a growing discontent in the party with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the wars in Gaza and Iran.<\/p>\n The two resolutions to block US sales of bulldozers and bombs to Israel were opposed by all Republicans and rejected 40-59 and 36-63.<\/p>\n \t Jon Finer, former deputy national security adviser under ex-president Joe Biden, said the recent steps by Democratic senators reflect a \u201cgrowing concern about Israeli conduct of various wars that cause civilian harm and US complicity in that\u201d across the spectrum within the Democratic Party.<\/p>\n Asked why the Democratic Party is taking these steps now and not at the time when the war in Gaza and the Israel-Hezbollah war broke out \u2014 when the Democratic Biden administration was in power \u2014 Finer said: \u201cOur operational integration with Israel appears to be growing, which is part of it, but the truth is the Democratic base has been moving in this direction for some time and Washington has been catching up.\u201d<\/p>\n Andrew Miller, a former senior official on Israel and Palestinian Affairs at the State Department, said the letter \u201crepresents a shift among congressional Democrats moving from questions of the legality of Israeli military operations to concerns about the complicity of the US military.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt demonstrates that Democrats are taking international law very seriously and that is a welcome development,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n \t The evacuation zones<\/p>\n Israel has issued dozens of evacuation warnings in Lebanon since the latest Israel-Hezbollah war began on March 2. Over\u00a01 million people\u00a0in Lebanon have fled their homes during the war.<\/p>\n Israel has also issued similar warnings for Iranians, both during the 12-day Israel-Iran war last year and during the US-Israeli war launched on Iran on February 28. In one case last year, they warned 300,000 people in Tehran, Iran\u2019s capital, to evacuate.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, the army spokesperson Col. Avichay Adraee issued an evacuation warning to residents of 12 villages in southern Lebanon, saying Hezbollah is using them to launch attacks. The warnings came despite a ceasefire that has been nominally in place since April 17, although Israel and Hezbollah have been carrying out daily attacks since then.<\/p>\n \t The senators said the declaration of evacuation zones does not absolve Israeli and US forces \u201cfrom the absolute legal responsibility to determine that each individual person or civilian facility targeted by drones, jets, and gunfire is, in fact, a military target.\u201d It said the use of the zones has been linked to \u201cthe deaths of thousands of civilians,\u201d describing them as \u201ckill zones.\u201d<\/p>\n In response to questions by the AP last month, the Israeli military said it issues warnings by phone, text, radio broadcast, social media and leaflets dropped from the air, in accordance with the \u201cprinciples of distinction, proportionality and feasible precautions\u201d under international law.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tSmoke rises following several Israeli airstrikes that hit without previous warning Beirut\u2019s southern suburbs and central Beirut, Lebanon, April 8, 2026. (AP\/Hassan Ammar)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/F260507AMA02-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tIsraeli soldiers seen inside southern Lebanon as seen from the Israeli side of the border, May 7, 2026. (Ayal Margolin\/Flash90)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/AP25269489571444-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tJon Finer, a former US deputy national security adviser, speaking at the Global Progress Action Summit, in London, September 26, 2025. (AP\/Kin Cheung)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/AP26127443368749-1-e1778168175444-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tDisplaced people fleeing Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon sit in traffic at a highway that links to Beirut, in the southern port city of Sidon, March 2, 2026. (AP\/Mohammed Zaatari)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/AP26127445987207-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tDisplaced people fleeing Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon sit on a pickup at a highway that links to Beirut, in the southern port city of Sidon, March 2, 2026. (AP\/Mohammed Zaatari)<\/p>\n
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David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel<\/p>\n
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