HRW and More Than 80 Organizations Call on Congress to Uphold US Law and Suspend Security Assistance to Israel

Dear Members of Congress,

We, the undersigned organizations, write to express our grave concern regarding the preventable humanitarian catastrophe and mass starvation in the occupied Gaza Strip. We urge you to use all available tools, including the suspension of U.S. security assistance in compliance with section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act, in order to secure an immediate surge in humanitarian assistance and an end to the ongoing atrocities. As many of our organizations argued previously, continued U.S. security assistance to Israel despite Israel’s near total siege and restrictions on humanitarian aid is a violation of U.S. law. We urge you to take swift action to comply with the law and end U.S. support for the catastrophic suffering Israel has imposed on Palestinians in Gaza.

As the United Nations and humanitarian organizations have been warning, starvation and the humanitarian crisis are rapidly worsening throughout Gaza. The humanitarian system is being deliberately and systematically dismantled by the Israeli government’s blockade and restrictions. Alarmingly, the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) warned on July 29 that the worst-case scenario—famine—is currently unfolding in Gaza. In addition, the IPC states that “humanitarian aid remains extremely restricted due to requests for humanitarian access being repeatedly denied and frequent security incidents.

Despite the easing of the blockade on 19 May, only a trickle of humanitarian assistance, mainly food, has entered the Gaza Strip.” Food assistance, however, requires extraordinary risks to access. According to the UN Human Rights Office, the Israeli military has killed more than 400 Palestinians and injured more than 3,000 since May 27 while trying to access aid.

Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli government has dramatically tightened restrictions on U.S. humanitarian assistance into the Gaza Strip. The government has fully blocked the entry of humanitarian aid at various times, most recently between March and May of this year; conducted military strikes on humanitarian workers and sites; destroyed critical infrastructure essential to the survival of the civilian population; implemented a deadly new aid distribution mechanism that reduces the number of distribution sites across Gaza; and repeatedly killed civilians seeking assistance.

Such restrictions and attacks have been documented repeatedly throughout the war and therefore cannot be seen as isolated instances, but the policy of the government of Israel. Human Rights Watch determined that the Israeli government was committing a war crime by using starvation of civilians as a weapon of war in the Gaza Strip; and Oxfam documented war crimes committed by the Israeli government due to its destruction and weaponization of water in Gaza.

Meanwhile, the United States continues to provide Israel with unconditional arms transfers and other military support. Congress has appropriated more than $21 billion in security assistance for Israel since October 7, 2023. In part to fulfill that assistance appropriated by Congress, the Biden and Trump administrations have announced more than $30 billion in potential arms sales, including a sale two months ago for munition guidance kits that have been documented to have been used unlawfully in Gaza.

Israel’s restrictions on humanitarian aid are not only morally indefensible, they also violate both international and U.S. law. Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act (22 U.S.C. § 2378–1) prohibits the United States from providing security assistance or arms sales to any country that “prohibits or otherwise restricts, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance.”

Unconditional U.S. security assistance in violation of the law and continued support for the Israeli government as it restricts aid with impunity has resulted in an engineered humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. We urge you to take all actions at your disposal to end U.S. support for these horrors, enforce U.S. compliance with the law, and use your leverage to bring about an immediate and permanent end to the atrocities, the release of hostages and unlawfully detained prisoners, and access to life-saving humanitarian assistance.

Sincerely,