WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement:
“Witnessing the catastrophic hunger and suffering of civilians, especially children, women, the sick and elderly, in Gaza has been heartbreaking. The crisis in Gaza must be met with an immediate and drastic surge in life-saving resources, such as desperately needed food, water, and medicine–including therapeutic foods for those suffering from severe malnutrition. It is our collective moral duty to ensure that humanitarian relief reaches those who need it most urgently.
“The strategy of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has not worked. Proven methods to get humanitarian aid to those in need while preventing diversion to Hamas must be used to flood the zone now. Every moment of delay will cost lives and cause irreparable harm to the health of children, pregnant women, and other civilians.
“We must do all we can to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza as part of the strategy to save lives, decrease Hamas’s influence and capabilities, release all remaining hostages, strengthen Israel’s security, and ultimately end this war. These goals are not mutually exclusive, rather they go hand-in-hand.”