WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats are imploring President Donald Trump’s administration to step up its role in addressing in Gaza, with more than 40 senators signing onto a letter Tuesday urging the resumption of ceasefire talks and sharply criticizing an Israeli-backed American organization that had been created to distribute food aid.
In a letter to Secretary of State and the Republican president’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, the senators said , 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 organization’s sites.”
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 broke with , saying he wanted him to and referencing the images of hungry children.
Trump on Monday said that the U.S. would set up food centers to address the worsening humanitarian crisis, but he did not offer any details. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly followed up with a statement that said details would be forthcoming and that Trump “wants to alleviate suffering for the people of Gaza because he has a humanitarian heart.”
The White House and the State Department on Tuesday still had no information about the plans for food centers.
GOP Sen. Jim Risch, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, confirmed Tuesday that had been briefed on the food centers, but he declined to provide more details on them.
Still, Democrats were calling for a “large-scale expansion” of aid into Gaza channeled through organizations experienced working in the area.
Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii said that changes to the way Israel allows aid into Gaza were at fault, adding that it was “not at all credible” to think the Israeli military — one of the most advanced in the world — is incapable of facilitating aid distribution or .
“They made a choice to establish a new way of doing food distribution,” he said. “And it’s not working at all.”
Another Democratic member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, said he had not yet heard anything about the centers, and that he’s “very skeptical” that Trump’s plans will address the issue of starvation in Gaza.
“Could the U.S. set up food centers? Yes, but what about the World Food Program, Mercy Corps and all the groups have been doing it for decades? Why don’t we allow them to do it?” Kaine told The Associated Press.
The letter 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 — Sens. 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, 20 still believed to be alive, held by Hamas since .
The signatures from 44 senators — the vast majority of the Senate Democratic Caucus — on the letter show the extent to which Democrats have achieved some unity on while they . They called for an end to the war 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.
Schiff said the letter showed how most in the caucus believe “that the current situation is just unsustainable.”
“There’s just too much heartbreak and death, too much hunger and loss of life,” he added.
Meanwhile, Republicans are backing Trump’s handling of the situation and supporting Israel. Sen. 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 Rep. 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 U.S. foreign aid programs.
“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.”
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Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti and Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.
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