ACTION ALERT: Restore UN Aid to Gaza Now!
Jon Rainwater / Peace Action

SILVER SPRINGS, MD (October 17, 2024) — As I write this, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is getting worse. I almost hesitate to use the clinical term “humanitarian crisis” given the brutal eliminationist tactics the Israeli military is using. By now, you may have seen the tragic fire earlier this week at the Al-Aqsa Hospital where Palestinian refugees were sheltering. A tent camp went up in flames after Israeli strikes. It’s horrific.

But this is just one strike among many, with schools, flour distribution centers and other civilian sites also getting hit. Many analysts believe this is part of a diabolical “surrender or starve” strategy designed to empty northern Gaza of all Palestinians by making survival there impossible. [1]

You and I can take action to get lifesaving aid to Gaza. Please write your House members and ask them to restore the aid they have been blocking to UNRWA, the critical UN humanitarian agency working in Gaza – and Lebanon. 

Representative André Carson, supported by Reps. Jayapal and Schakowsky, have introduced a bill — the UNRWA Funding Emergency Restoration Act, H.R. 9649 — to restore humanitarian aid through this uniquely important agency.
ACTION: Write today and support this critical bill.

It’s important to note that UNRWA isn’t just one aid agency among many. UNRWA is the only agency with the infrastructure to address this massive crisis. The heads of WHO, World Food Program, UNICEF, and others all say “no other entity” can replace UNRWA. These experts say it serves a “quasi-governmental” function in Gaza.

Months ago Israel made accusations against a dozen employees of UNRWA. The US quickly suspended aid. But UNRWA has about 13,000 employees working in Gaza, and it quickly fired those accused by Israel. After investigations by the U.N. found that the UNRWA has strong systems in place to ensure “neutrality” (a lack of involvement on the side of any belligerent), 15 other countries that had suspended aid alongside the US restored funding. This includes key US allies the U.K., European Union, Germany, Japan, Australia, Canada, and France.

So, the US is the only holdout in terms of a freeze! Meanwhile, the US continues to send Israel the bombs being used in Gaza. This is an unconscionable failure in the face of the humanitarian crisis created because of those US bombs.

Can you write to Congress today and ask that they make sure that aid to UNRWA and the people of Gaza – and Lebanon – is restored?

Let’s be honest, this humanitarian crisis is completely human made. The Israeli military is using starvation, and targeting of civilian locations and infrastructure, as weapons of war according to human rights groups like Human Rights Watch. Israel is actively blocking humanitarian aid from getting into Gaza.

The US must restore UNRWA aid and use its leverage, including blocking weapons to Israel, to restore and increase aid to Gaza. You’ve probably already participated in our campaign to block military aid to Israel. We need the US to use that leverage. But we also need the United States to open the aid spigot for a starving people. That’s why I am writing to you today about the humanitarian issue whicch deserves its own focus.

Please write today and ask your Representative to cosponsor the UNRWA Funding Emergency Restoration Act. And ask them to speak out to end the war and surge humanitarian rescue efforts into the region.

Thank you for your tireless work for peace.

Sources: [1] Is Israel deploying a ‘surrender or starve’ strategy in Gaza?, Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post, October 14, 2024

Jon Rainwater is the Executive Director of Peace Action