US senator blasts State Department over Gaza aid mismanagement

WASHINGTON

US Sen. Jeanne Shaheen slammed the Trump administration Tuesday for bypassing established aid groups in the Gaza Strip and directing $30 million to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

"I am gravely concerned by the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, where 76% of the civilian population is expected to face emergency or catastrophic levels of hunger by the end of September.

"Instead of working through respected international aid organizations, the State Department approved $30 million for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in late June, ignoring its own vetting standards and waiving legal requirements to consult with Congress," Shaheen said in a statement.

Launched in the besieged Gaza Strip on May 27, the aid distribution sites of the US- and Israeli-backed GHF have been described as “death traps” by critics.

Shaheen, a ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said since the US began supporting the GHF, more than 700 starving people have been killed and nearly 5,000 injured while desperately seeking food at GHF distribution sites.

She noted that dozens more people were killed and injured this weekend in both north and south Gaza trying to access food.

"These operations are proceeding with almost no oversight to ensure aid is being delivered to those in need and to prevent food from being resold, stolen or diverted to Hamas," the senator added.

While Shaheen reiterated the urgent need for a ceasefire and the release of hostages, she also stressed that how aid is delivered matters just as much as when.

“Congress has a responsibility to ensure aid is delivered responsibly, not in ways that deepen suffering or undermine international norms," she said, adding the US must return to "proven humanitarian channels" that uphold core international principles on neutrality and not forcing displacement to access food.

"That is the only way to protect innocent lives, prevent further chaos and reaffirm the values that have guided American humanitarian endeavors for decades," she added.

Israel has killed more than 59,100 Palestinians, most of them women and children, in the Gaza Strip since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave, collapsed the health system and led to severe food shortages.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.