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Senators Press State Department on Urgent Gaza Aid as Children Face Famine
Summary
Senators pressed Secretary Rubio over an acute humanitarian crisis in Gaza and urged immediate, reliable corridors for food and medical supplies. Rubio said the administration has pressed Israel to increase humanitarian flows and that the World Food Programme has distribution capacity ready to scale up.
Senator Durbin pressed Secretary Rubio on an immediate humanitarian crisis in Gaza, saying, "In the next few days, they anticipate 14,000 infants and children will die," and urging faster action to get food, medicine and water into the territory.
The question drew bipartisan attention in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing as senators described images of malnourished children and called for concrete steps to prevent civilian deaths. "We support a ... way to reliably reach as many people as possible," Rubio said, adding that he has pressed Israeli authorities to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza while trying to avoid that those supplies be diverted to Hamas.
Nut graf: The administration says it is pressing Israel to expand aid access and that humanitarian agencies on the ground can distribute supplies quickly; senators urged faster, clearer steps to prevent imminent child deaths and called for accountability for diversion of assistance.
Rubio said the World Food Programme could scale distribution rapidly if access is permitted, noting he spoke with Cindy McCain of WFP about distribution systems and that he had been "assured" they could operate quickly if access were allowed. "She outlined for me exactly how they would distribute food and how the program would work if it were to be restarted," Rubio said.
Senators raised two linked concerns: (1) the immediate flow of life‑saving aid and (2) the risk that aid could be siphoned by Hamas. Rubio acknowledged both, saying there have been instances of diversion but arguing that distribution systems can be structured to reach large numbers of people without enriching Hamas. "We believe there is a way to do it," Rubio said, and added that he expected aid flows to increase "over the next few days and weeks."
The exchange did not produce a new, binding U.S. action or deadline. Rubio described ongoing bilateral engagement with Israeli partners and repeated the administration's view that defeating Hamas is required for a viable political future in Gaza while also stressing the urgency of humanitarian access.
Ending: Senators across the panel pressed for more detail on mechanics and timing; Rubio said he would continue to press Israeli authorities and partners such as the World Food Programme to expand distributions rapidly and that officials expect increased flows in the coming days.
