Senate Democrats have implored President Donald Trump's administration to step up its role in addressing suffering and starvation in Gaza, with more than three dozen senators signing onto a letter urging the resumption of ceasefire talks and sharply criticising a controversial Israeli-backed American organisation that had been created to distribute food aid.
In a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Republican president's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, the senators said the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation or GHF, created in February with backing from the Trump administration, has "failed to address the deepening humanitarian crisis and contributed to an unacceptable and mounting civilian death toll around the organisation's sites."
Since May, Israeli troops have killed over 1,000 starving Palestinians at GHF distribution sites while they were collecting food supplies.
It marked a mostly united plea from Senate Democrats — who are locked out of power in Washington — for the Trump administration to recalibrate its approach after the collapse of ceasefire talks last week.
Trump on Monday expressed concern about the worsening humanitarian situation and broke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's claim that people are not starving in Gaza, besieged by Israel from land, air and sea.
But it is unclear how Trump will proceed.
Democratic Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii said it was "not at all credible" to think the invading Israeli military — one of the most advanced in the world — is incapable of distributing food aid or performing crowd control.
"They made a choice to establish a new way of doing food distribution," he said. "And it’s not working at all."
Republicans back Trump's measures
The letter, obtained by The Associated Press, calls for a "large-scale expansion" of aid into Gaza channeled through organisations experienced working in the area. It also says efforts for a ceasefire agreement are "as critical and urgent as ever."
The message was led by four Jewish members of the Democratic Caucus — Senators Adam Schiff of California, Chuck Schumer of New York, Jacky Rosen of Nevada and Schatz — and calls for the return of the roughly 50 hostages from Gaza, 20 still believed to be alive.
The 39 signatures on the letter show the extent to which Democrats have achieved some unity on a foreign policy issue that deeply divided them while they held the White House last year. Many Democrats had backed Biden administration's stance and support for Israel's genocide in Gaza.
They called for an end to the genocide that sees Hamas no longer in control of Gaza and a long-term goal of both an Israeli and a Palestinian state and opposed any permanent displacement of the Palestinian people.
Meanwhile, Republicans are backing Trump's handling of the situation and supporting Israel.
Senator John Cornyn, a Texas Republican who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he was satisfied with Trump trying "to referee that, but the Israelis need to get their hostages back."
Still, images of the worsening hunger crisis in Gaza seemed to be reaching some Republican members of Congress.
Over the weekend, far-right Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who routinely calls for an end to foreign aid, said on social media "what has been happening to innocent people and children in Gaza is horrific. This war and humanitarian crisis must end!"
For Schatz, it was a sign many Americans do care about suffering in other parts of the world, even after Trump won the election with "America First" foreign policy goals and kickstarted his administration by demolishing US aid programmes.
"They are seeing images of chaos, images of suffering that are either caused by the United States or at least could have been prevented by the United States," Schatz said.
"And it is redounding negatively to the president."
US complicity in genocide
Israel has been carrying out a genocide in Gaza since October 2023. Palestinians have recorded killings of more than 60,000 people, most of them women and children.
Some 11,000 Palestinians are feared buried under rubble of annihilated homes, according to Palestine's official WAFA news agency.
Experts, however, contend that the actual death toll significantly exceeds what the Gaza authorities have reported, estimating it could be around 200,000.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
Washington allocates $3.8 billion in annual military funding to its long-standing ally Israel.
Since October 2023, the US has spent more than $22 billion supporting Israel's war in Gaza and neighbouring countries.
Despite some US officials criticising Israel regarding the high civilian death toll in Gaza, Washington has, thus far, resisted calls to place conditions on any arms transfers.
