The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday unanimously passed a resolution condemning Hamas’s use of human shields, following the passage earlier in the week of the Senate version of the resolution, coauthored by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). Reps. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), who cosponsored the House’s version of the resolution, jointly released a statement praising Israel for going “to extraordinary lengths this summer in Gaza to protect innocent civilian lives” and blasted Hamas for “plac[ing] the Palestinian people directly in harm’s way by using them as human shields and placing its rockets near densely populated areas and near schools, hospitals and mosques.” The Palestinian terror group, which admitted to the tactic, was criticized by among others the United States and the European Union for using Palestinian civilians as human shields as Hamas fired thousands of rockets into Israeli population centers during the summer conflict.

The House vote comes two days after members of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade authored a letter to the Treasury Department underscoring lawmakers’ concerns over the funding and support provided to Hamas by regional players Qatar and Turkey. Qatar in particular was slammed for allowing Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal “to operate out of its territory knowingly and with impunity.” The letter cited press reports that “Qatar threatened to deport [Meshaal] if Hamas had accepted an Egypt-backed ceasefire agreement to end this summer’s conflict in Gaza,” potentially stretching out the summer’s conflict.

[Photo: Ron Cogswell / Flickr ]