WASHINGTON, May 16, 2025 (WAFA) - U.S. Senator Peter Welch led 29 of his Senate colleagues in introducing a resolution calling on the Trump Administration to use all diplomatic tools at its disposal to bring an end to the blockade of food and lifesaving humanitarian aid to address the needs of civilians in Gaza.
In their resolution, the Senators express grave concern about the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, including the imminent starvation of tens of thousands of children.
On Tuesday evening, Senator Welch took to the Senate Floor to highlight the unprecedented crisis unfolding in Gaza. “We cannot have or sanction a government-intentional policy of starvation,” said Senator Welch on the Senate floor.
“It’s been over two months since the Israeli government has been using its power to withhold food, medicine, lifesaving cancer treatments, dialysis systems, formula, and more from starving and suffering families across Gaza,” he said.
“I’m offering a resolution with my colleagues that makes a simple point: it notes simply that children are starving to death. They’re starving to death as we are here comfortably debating what we think are important issues. And it must be the effort of all of us to do all we can to bring this siege and this war to an immediate end,” said Senator Welch on the Senate floor.
Joining Senator Welch on the resolution are Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Angus King (I-Maine), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).
The Senators’ resolution is supported by Anera, the Friends Committee on National Legislation, J Street, and Oxfam America.
“In Gaza today, children are starving, hospitals are collapsing, and families are in a state of desperation. This resolution is a call to conscience, a moment of moral reckoning. Will the world be complicit in Gaza’s collapse, or part of its recovery? We call on the U.S. government in the strongest terms to act swiftly, using all the leverage at its disposal, to urgently permit humanitarian organizations to deliver aid into Gaza. This resolution is a critical step in the right direction,” said Sean Carroll, President and CEO, Anera.
“The crisis in Gaza has reached a breaking point, with over two months of a total blockade cutting off food, water, fuel, and medical supplies. More than two million Palestinians are trapped, starving, and facing a potential famine that could claim thousands of lives. It’s encouraging to see Senator Welch and his colleagues introduce a resolution highlighting this urgent humanitarian suffering. Congress and the Trump Administration must use every diplomatic tool available to demand the immediate, full reopening of Gaza’s borders to deliver life-saving aid,” said Hassan El-Tayyab, Legislative Director for Middle East Policy, Friends Committee on National Legislation.
“This resolution comes at a moment of moral reckoning, as conditions in Gaza have become even more unbearable,” said Jeremy Ben-Ami, President, J Street. “Children are surviving on one meal every few days. To deliberately starve civilians is immoral. To use water, fuel, food as tools of war is unconscionable. Humanitarian aid must immediately be allowed to enter Gaza unconditionally.”
“The more than two-month-long siege, with no aid being allowed to enter, has now pushed nearly the entire population in Gaza to the brink of starvation. Every day, parents wake up and spend their days searching for something to feed their children – often coming back with nothing. Humanitarian organizations know how to reach the people who most urgently need food, water, medical care, and other lifesaving essentials when we have supplies and can do our work safely, but right now we can’t. We are in a race against time, and we need action from U.S. leaders to allow us to do our jobs, keep pushing for a permanent, immediate ceasefire, humanitarian access and an end to the siege, and a return of all hostages and unlawfully detained prisoners,” said Abby Maxman, President and CEO, Oxfam America.
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