Democrats Get More Vocal About ‘Horrors Upon Horrors’ in Gaza

A group of Democratic senators on Sunday penned a letter expressing “grave concerns” about the Trump administration’s approach to food aid in the war-torn Gaza Strip, part of a growing chorus of voices in the party speaking up about a humanitarian crisis in the beleaguered enclave.

A number of reports in recent days have revealed the extent of mass hunger in Gaza as Israel continues to wage its brutal war against the militant group Hamas.

One in five children in Gaza City is malnourished, Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said last week, while the World Health Organization has confirmed that at least 100 people have already died from starvation. Twenty-one of those were children under the age of 5.

Shortly after taking office, President Donald Trump pulled U.S. support for UNRWA, which provided aid to Gaza with the support of the international community. Officials at the time claimed that Hamas had infiltrated the group and was financially benefiting from U.S. support — a claim refuted by a subsequent USAID report.

Instead, the Trump administration has thrown its support behind an Israeli-backed group called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which relies on support from U.S. security contractors and has been heavily criticized for a number of recent incidents in which civilians have reportedly been killed while trying to reach its distribution sites.

“American taxpayers should not be spending one penny to fund this private organization backed by mercenaries and by the IDF that has become a death trap,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen, the lead author of the Senate Democrats’ letter, said on CBS’ Face the Nation Sunday. He and the 20 other senators who signed the letter urged the administration to instead resume its funding for UNRWA and other UN aid programs.

Trucks carrying humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip pass through an inspection area at the Kerem Shalom Crossing in southern Israel. Ohad Zwigenberg/AP

The Maryland Democrat is one of a growing number of voices on both sides of the aisle speaking up about what he says is a rapidly expanding humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

“Every day, the horrors in Gaza reach new, unimaginable depths,” Van Hollen wrote on social media Friday. “This cannot continue.”

Reps. Summer Lee, Hakeem Jeffries, Wesley Bell, and a number of other Democrats from across the ideological spectrum expressed outrage following a spate of media reports detailing what Lee called the “horrors upon horrors” caused by mass hunger in Gaza.

Rep. John Garamendi went as far as to say that it was “impossible to look at the starvation caused by Israel’s dangerous and willful failure to enable humanitarian aid and not see a genocide.”

And Democrats aren’t alone — many Republicans also seem to be changing their tune.

Even Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a steadfast supporter of Trump who has backed Israel in the past, expressed her own reservations about the U.S. and Israel’s approach to humanitarian aid in Gaza.

“I can unequivocally say that what happened to innocent people in Israel on Oct 7th was horrific, just as I can unequivocally say that what has been happening to innocent people and children in Gaza is horrific,” Greene wrote on X Sunday. “This war and humanitarian crisis must end!”

Last week, Sen. Lindsey Graham — one of Israel’s closest allies in Congress — also expressed concern about the situation in Gaza.

“The Israelis have a concern about the food being misappropriated to Hamas fighters. I have that concern, but I’d like to get some aid in,” Graham told NOTUS last week. “I don’t want the food to sit there and rot.”

Israel seemed to acknowledge the increasing international pressure over the weekend by announcing that it would pause offensive attacks for up to 10 hours each day as part of an initiative to deliver more food and supplies to citizens in Gaza.

The pause will be in effect from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. in Gaza City, Deir al Balah and Al-Mawasi, three areas where the Israeli government has urged Palestinian citizens to seek shelter from the conflict.

Despite the increasing focus on food aid, the Israel Defense Forces continue to deny that there is mass hunger in Gaza, calling the narrative a “false campaign promoted by Hamas.”

Trump has not indicated that he plans to rethink his support for Israel’s campaign, telling reporters Friday that Hamas fighters “want to die” and that Israel should “finish the job.”

Speaking ahead of his meeting with European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in the UK on Sunday, Trump also said he hasn’t been properly thanked for the food aid already provided by the U.S.

“We gave $60 million two weeks for food, for Gaza, and nobody acknowledged it,” Trump said. “Nobody talks about it. It makes you feel a little bad when you do that, and you have other countries not giving anything.”

“It would be nice to at least have a ‘thank you.’”