US Senator Tom Cotton, a Republican who represents Arkansas, has said that Israel has no responsibility to provide aid to people in Gaza, Al Jazeera reports.

In a Senate hearing exchange with Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday, Cotton questioned the defence chief about comments suggesting that Israel has a responsibility to provide aid to the war-torn enclave.

“Israel is the victim of a vicious unprovoked attack on October 7. Why should they provide aid to the… aggressors on October 7? We didn’t provide aid to Germany and Japan during World War II,” Cotton said.

After Austin replied that the US has provided aid in many countries where it has a military presence, Cotton again compared Gaza to World War II-era Germany.

“If you had been in George Marshall’s or Dwight Eisenhower’s position in WWII, would you have wanted to provide aid to Germany?” he asked.