Findings

Congress makes the following findings: (1) According to many credible nongovernmental organizations, such as Doctors Without Borders, the Government of Israel under the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has heavily restricted the distribution of food, fuel, medicine, and other humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza. (2) The United States has at times had to take extraordinary measures to work around the Netanyahu administration’s restrictions in order to provide aid to the people of Gaza. (3) In a longitudinal, cross-sectional study published in The Lancet in October 2025, medical scholars from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency found that, between January 2024 and August 2025, during the Netanyahu administration, tens of thousands of preschool-aged children in Gaza were suffering from preventable acute malnutrition and faced an increased risk of mortality. (4) The entire population of the Gaza Strip, an estimated 2,200,000 people, is facing acute levels of hunger and, according to the United Nations, since January 2025, more than 20,000 children have been identified as suffering from acute malnutrition, a telltale sign of imminent famine. To a great extent, this is a result of the policies of Prime Minister Netanyahu. (5) The United Nations Relief and Works Agency states that the amount of aid allowed into Gaza must reach a minimum of 500 to 600 truckloads of meaningful aid per day to meet the necessary minimum to prevent starvation. (6) During the Netanyahu administration, from May 19, 2025, through January 7, 2026, according to the Monitoring and Tracking Dashboard of the United Nations Office for Project Services, fewer than 17,000 trucks of humanitarian aid had made it to any of the crossings along Gaza’s perimeter. (7) According to the Netanyahu administration’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, nongovernmental organizations wishing to supply humanitarian assistance in Gaza must be registered with and approved by an inter-ministerial team led by the Director General of Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism. (8) According to the Netanyahu administration’s Ministry of Defense of the State of Israel, Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories office, which assists in determining the eligibility of a nongovernmental organization in the registration approval process, requires additional clearance for and coordination with nongovernmental organizations. (9) There already exist established, universal standards, such as the Sphere standards and the United Nations coordinated response guidance, that an organization must meet in order to function as a credible, legitimate humanitarian organization. (10) Prime Minister Netanyahu has repeatedly denied the existence of mass hunger and starvation in Gaza. (11) According to Doctors Without Borders and Human Rights Watch, Palestinians in Gaza in need of aid receive contradictory and counterproductive information regarding aid availability, often with very little notice from the Netanyahu administration, which leads to confusion, puts them in dangerous situations, and diminishes their ability to actually secure aid. (12) According to a July 23, 2025, statement from more than 100 nongovernmental organizations, the Netanyahu administration’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories office heavily restricted the humanitarian assistance distributed outside of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation network. (13) On July 1, 2025, more than 170 nongovernmental organizations, such as Doctors Without Borders, called for the dismantling of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation as a result of its violations of international norms associated with humanitarian work and concerns of harm to civilians at distribution centers of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. (14) During the Netanyahu administration, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has reported that more than 1,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed seeking food, more than 800 of whom were killed at or around distribution sites of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. (15) During the Netanyahu administration, Human Rights Watch has reported that multiple sources, including former staff of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, have witnessed instances of the Israel Defense Forces opening fire on aid-seeking Palestinians with live ammunition near distribution sites of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. (16) The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation received on-ground logistical and security support from Safe Reach Solutions and UG Solutions. (17) The Government of Israel and Hamas entered into a ceasefire on October 10, 2025. (18) The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation suspended its operations on October 10, 2025, following the start of the ceasefire. (19) Despite the suspension of operations by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, numerous nongovernmental organizations have reported that Safe Reach Solutions and UG Solutions plan to continue operations in Gaza. (20) Despite the ceasefire and the proposed increase in humanitarian assistance, restrictions on delivery and distribution persist under the Netanyahu administration and actual levels of humanitarian assistance remain well below what is needed. (21) More than 40 nongovernmental organizations operating on the ground in Gaza issued a statement on October 23, 2025, stating that, despite the ceasefire, Israeli authorities under the Netanyahu administration have continued to arbitrarily reject shipments of humanitarian assistance into Gaza, including items such as blankets, mattresses, food and nutrition supplies, hygiene kits, sanitation materials, assistive devices, and children’s clothing, and have caused almost $50,000,000 of essential goods to sit stockpiled at the crossings, unable to be distributed. (22) The Director General of the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, the Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, the Chief of the General Staff of Israel Defense Forces, the Defense Minister of Israel, and the Prime Minister of Israel all have authorities to help ensure the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians in Gaza. (23) The Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, the Defense Minister of Israel, and the Prime Minister of Israel all have authority to change policy to ensure the distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza. (24) International humanitarian law, including customary norms and treaty law, prohibits the use of starvation as a method of warfare and requires the protection of civilians’ access to humanitarian assistance.