(Radio Iowa)- Iowa Senator Joni Ernst says the U-S needs to ensure humanitarian aid for Gaza goes directly to the people who need it and not into the hands of Hamas terrorists.

Ernst, in a speech on the Senate floor, talked about her recent trip to the Middle East. She says during a meeting in Jordan, the country’s king expressed his concern that Iran would capitalize on the chaos in Gaza and escalate the conflict.

Ernst, a Republican from Red Oak, compares Hamas to ISIS and she says they deserve nothing less than destruction. The top Democrat in the U-S Senate says lawmakers and the Biden Administration are working on a plan that would provide a surge of military aid to Israel as well as humanitarian aid for civilians trapped in Gaza without food, water or electricity. U-S officials say they’ve so far confirmed 31 Americans were killed in this month’s Hamas attack in Israel.