[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 80 (Tuesday, May 13, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2900-S2901]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE RESOLUTION 224--CALLING FOR THE URGENT DELIVERY OF HUMANITARIAN 
             AID TO ADDRESS THE NEEDS OF CIVILIANS IN GAZA

  Mr. WELCH (for himself, Mr. Bennet, Mr. Booker, Ms. Duckworth, Mr. 
Durbin, Mr. Heinrich, Mr. Hickenlooper, Ms. Hirono, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Kim, 
Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Markey, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Murphy, Mrs. Murray, Mr. 
Ossoff, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Schatz, Mrs. Shaheen, Ms. Slotkin, Ms. Smith, 
Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Warner, Mr. Warnock, Ms. Warren, Mr. Wyden, Mr. 
Whitehouse, and Mr. King) submitted the following resolution; which was 
referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 224

       Whereas the entire population of the Gaza Strip, an 
     estimated 2,200,000 people, is facing acute levels of hunger;
       Whereas, according to the United Nations, since January 
     2025, approximately 10,000 children have been identified as 
     suffering from acute malnutrition--a telltale sign of 
     imminent famine;
       Whereas the borders of Gaza have been blocked since March 
     2, 2025, prohibiting entry of food, medicine, infant formula, 
     fuel, and other lifesaving humanitarian supplies;
       Whereas all 25 World Food Program-supported bakeries in 
     Gaza closed on March 31, 2025, as wheat flour and cooking 
     fuel ran out, and the same week World Food Program food 
     parcels distributed to families--with two weeks of food 
     rations--were exhausted;
       Whereas the Executive Director of the World Food Program 
     Cindy McCain said on April 25, ``People are starving, and. . 
     . many more are going to starve as a result of this.'';
       Whereas women eat last and least in times of heightened 
     food insecurity; and
       Whereas the health system in Gaza is near total collapse: 
     Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) is gravely concerned with--
       (A) the humanitarian crisis and acute suffering of the 
     Palestinian civilians in Gaza; and
       (B) the suffering of the hostages and hostage families; and
       (2) calls on the White House, Department of State, and 
     other relevant United States Government agencies to urgently 
     use all available diplomatic tools to bring about the release 
     of the hostages, an immediate cessation of the blockade on 
     food and humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians, and a 
     durable end to the conflict in Gaza.

  Mr. WELCH. Mr. President, I want to speak about a very uncomfortable 
but very real tragedy that is unfolding before our very eyes, and that, 
of course, is starvation in Gaza. It is a tragedy that is totally 
foreseeable and is totally preventable.
  Today, the families and children of Gaza--today, right now--are 
facing starvation, and this is following a monthslong complete denial 
of the delivery of food and aid within the borders of Gaza. For more 
than 2 months, Israeli forces have stopped thousands of tons of food 
and water and medicine

[[Page S2901]]

and formula and shelter and other humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza.
  The results of that siege have been and are unbearable for the 
families there. Babies and children are starving to death right now--
right now--in Gaza.
  I have behind me the picture of an infant girl in Gaza who starved to 
death this past week. Her parents could not get the lactose-free 
formula that she needed to keep her alive. That formula was on one side 
of the Gaza gate; that starving child was on the other. There was never 
even an effort to just hand that formula to keep that young girl alive, 
over the fence or to open the gate.
  I want to honor this beautiful infant girl today by sharing her name, 
and I ask all of us to remember it. Her name is Jinan Iskafi. And to 
Jinan's parents, on behalf of the U.S. Senate, I would like to say that 
we--all of us--offer our wholehearted condolences for your unspeakable 
loss.
  I know the Presiding Officer and I know my colleagues on both sides 
of the aisle are horrified about this suffering and this death of 
innocent infants. We all agree on this. Babies and children should not 
starve to death. We are united in our opposition to such unnecessary 
death and suffering, and I believe all of us do not accept that Jinan's 
death is a ``cost of war,'' a reality of war that can't be avoided. 
Jinan's death was totally avoidable. It was totally preventable.
  It has been over 2 months since the Israeli Government has been using 
its power to withhold food, medicine, lifesaving cancer treatments, 
dialysis systems, formula, and more from starving and suffering 
families across Gaza. Half a million Palestinians in Gaza are facing 
starvation, and that number is rising.
  The IPC report that was released 1 year ago offered a similarly dire 
warning. Yet here we are today. And, really, there is no end in sight. 
More than 70,000 children and more than 17,000 mothers need urgent 
treatment for acute malnutrition, urgent treatment to prevent 
starvation. All the while, these trucks that are filled with food and 
medicine, much of that aid provided by the United States and our 
allies, are right there across the border.
  This situation that folks face in Gaza is unprecedented in 
contemporary conflict. We cannot have or sanction a government's 
intentional policy of starvation. Nearly 30,000 babies and children 
have been killed in Gaza--faces seared into the traumatized hearts of 
their mothers, their brothers, their uncles. But even today, even more 
than that number are severely malnourished; even more than that number 
are facing famine conditions.
  Jinan--that name means paradise. Think of the hope of the parents 
when they named their beautiful child ``paradise.''
  It is up to all of us to do all we can to make this the last picture 
of a baby boy or girl who starves to death in Gaza. And, today, I am 
offering a resolution with my colleagues that makes a simple point. It 
notes simply that children are starving to death. They are starving to 
death as we are here comfortably debating what we think are important 
issues. And it must be the effort of all of us to do all we can to 
bring this siege and this war to an immediate end.
  I would like to thank my colleagues that joined me today in offering 
this call for humanity: Senators Bennet, Booker, Duckworth, Durbin, 
Hirono, Kaine, King, Heinrich, Hickenlooper, Kim, Klobuchar, Markey, 
Merkley, Murphy, Murray, Sanders, Schatz, Shaheen, Slotkin, Smith, Van 
Hollen, Warner, Warnock, Warren, and Wyden.
  Mr. President, I want to conclude my remarks tonight by sharing one 
more time the name of this infant girl, and I ask my colleagues to 
please look at her face, recognize her humanity, and recognize her 
name: Jinan Iskafi.

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