Israeli Soldiers Deliberately Shoot at Palestinians Seeking Food | Palestine Policy Roundup 06.30.25
Welcome to the Palestine Policy Roundup, a weekly publication of the IMEU Policy Project.
👀 ICYMI: MEMBERS OF CONGRESS SPEAK OUT
Rep. Rashida Tlaib: “Mahmoud Khalil is finally free! He was targeted solely for speaking out against U.S.-backed genocide. His release is a victory for everyone fighting for our First Amendment rights, our immigrant neighbors, and Palestinian freedom.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren: “It’s cruel to send Palestinians desperate for food into a death trap. And now, Trump wants to give the Netanyahu backed ‘Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’ $30 million. We should not send a single cent. We must stop the suffering in Gaza and fund real aid organizations.”
Sen. Chris Van Hollen: “Don’t look away. Since the start of the Israel-Iran war 7 days ago, over 400 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed, many shot while seeking food. It's unconscionable that Netanyahu has not allowed international orgs to resume food delivery. The weaponization of food must end.”
Rep. Delia Ramirez: “I am proud to stand in solidarity with advocates for peace in Chicago, who are on day 11 of a hunger strike to demand an end to the deadly military campaign Israel's government has waged on Gaza. We must challenge policies that destroy life, take a first step toward accountability, and pass the Block the Bombs Act to stop the transfer of U.S. military weapons to Israel.”
DC DEVELOPMENTS
⚠️ TRUMP ADMINISTRATION APPROVES $30 MILLION IN FUNDING TO SHADOWY GAZA HUMANITARIAN FOUNDATION
The State Department announced that it approved $30 million in direct funding to the shadowy Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which Israel is using to weaponize food in Gaza in service of its potential ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. The funding is reportedly coming from USAID as the State Department takes over the agency following President Trump and Elon Musk’s DOGE purge of the agency.
This funding for the organization was reportedly pushed through without regard for normal procedures, and staff concerns about GHF’s obvious inability to maintain humanitarian principles, neutrality, and independence. Top Trump administration leaders and DOGE associate Jeremy Lewin were reportedly behind the effort to get the funding approved.
According to sources, the GHF’s application for the grant bypassed an audit that is standard for first-time applicants for USAID funding, and some said the grant would not have been approved under normal circumstances. Another source said the funding was pushed through “...over the technical and ethical objections of career staff” at the agency.
It is not clear whether this funding will be the full amount of the Trump administration’s funding of this murky organization. Earlier this month, the State Department reportedly considered giving $500 million to the GHF.
This funding for the GHF, a shadowy organization about which very little is known even after a month of its operations in Gaza, makes the US even more complicit in Israel’s weaponization of food. Emphasizing this point in a letter sent last Monday, 15 organizations warned the GHF and other private companies of their liability “...for aiding and abetting or otherwise being complicit in crimes under international law, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide…” under international and US law.
Sending this funding as Palestinians who seek food at GHF sites are massacred nearly daily by Israeli soldiers or by militias supported by Israel sends a disturbing message about the Trump administration’s disregard for the lives and rights of Palestinians in Gaza. Additionally, the meager amounts of food allowed into Gaza through the foundation expose its true purpose: to concentrate Palestinians into shrinking areas of Gaza as a prelude to potential ethnic cleansing.
As Palestinians continue to be killed at these sites and starve to death as a result of the inadequate food distributed there, members of Congress should speak out against deepening US complicity in Israel’s weaponization of food.
IN THE NEWS
✅ ZOHRAN MAMDANI WIN SENDS POWERFUL MESSAGE OF DEMOCRATIC SUPPORT FOR PALESTINIAN RIGHTS
Last Tuesday, insurgent progressive candidate Zohran Mamdani upset former Governor Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary election for New York City mayor. Mamdani’s victory is a stunning defeat not only for Cuomo, who is a member of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s legal team to shield him from charges of war crimes, but also for the mega-donors of the pro-Israel lobby who supported the former governor.
Cuomo attempted to make the mayoral primary a referendum on Mamdani’s positions in support of Palestinian rights despite Mamdani’s focus on the concerns of working New Yorkers, such as affordability and public transit.
Mamdani’s record in support of Palestinian rights includes: leading a bill in the New York State Senate that would prohibit the abuse of non-profit status by organizations that fund Israel’s war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank; vowing to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he came to New York City; and participating in a hunger strike and calling for a ceasefire outside the White House during the first months of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
New York voters demonstrated that support for Palestinian rights is a politically smart strategy as the base of the Democratic Party increasingly makes clear that it does not support Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Their rejection of Cuomo’s gambit reflects a national trend of Democrats increasingly supporting Palestinian rights.
Earlier this month, 60% of Democrats polled by Quinnipiac University indicated that they sympathize more with Palestinians while only 12% indicated they sympathize more with Israel–the highest percentage Americans have ever sympathized with Palestinians since the question was first polled. Earlier this year, another survey found that a majority of Democrats describe Israel’s actions in Gaza as major war crimes, while yet another survey found nearly 70% of Democrats hold unfavorable views of Israel, likely as a result of its genocide in Gaza.
Mamdani’s upset win and Cuomo’s failure to weaponize Mamdani’s support for Palestinian rights against him provide further evidence of this shift in the base of the Democratic Party. Democratic Party leadership would do well to heed the lessons of the Mamdani campaign and understand that voters want to see their tax dollars fund the essentials of life rather than the weapons of death and destruction Israel uses to injure and kill Palestinians.
⚖️ MAHMOUD KHALIL FREED AFTER MORE THAN 100 DAYS OF UNCONSTITUTIONAL DETENTION
Mahmoud Khalil, who was unconstitutionally detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for more than 100 days over his speech and activism in support of Palestinian rights, was freed from a Louisiana detention center after a federal judge ordered that he be released on bail on the Friday before last.
This is the latest victory against the Trump administration’s attempts to crack down on speech in support of Palestinian rights. Khalil’s release comes after the releases of other high-profile targets of the Trump administration, including Mohsen Mahdawi and Rümeysa Özturk. Khalil was the first victim of the Trump administration’s crackdown on free speech in support of Palestinian rights.
🔑 KEY TAKEAWAY: In one of his first interviews following his release, Khalil reflected on his detention: “My main message is that [President Trump] vowed that he would set the Palestinian movement in this country 20 years back during his campaign. But what he did to me actually advanced the cause of Palestinian liberation for many years…[The Trump administration] wants to make me an example so that no one would dare to speak about Palestine. But it would not stop me from continuing to advocate for what's right.”
In his ruling the week before last, Judge Michael Farbiarz rejected the federal government’s attempts to keep Khalil detained based on flimsy allegations which were based on tabloids, and called the government’s attempts to do so “highly, highly unusual.” In an earlier ruling, Farbiarz ruled that the Trump administration’s use of a draconian provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act to detain and attempt to deport Khalil was unconstitutional.
While this is an important legal victory, the Trump administration’s attacks against Khalil are not over: he still faces the prospect of deportation after a Louisiana immigration judge found him removable on the very basis that Judge Farbiarz found unconstitutional. Additionally, while Khalil is the last high-profile target to be released, the Trump administration’s attack on speech and activism in support of Palestinian rights–following the script of the Heritage Foundation’s anti-Palestinian Project Esther–continues.
PALESTINE/ISRAEL DEVELOPMENTS
🍎 ISRAELI SOLDIERS ORDERED TO SHOOT AT PALESTINIANS SEEKING FOOD
A report in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz revealed that Israeli soldiers have been ordered to shoot at Palestinians seeking food at sites operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Fund, affirming what Palestinians have been saying for the past month as they have been massacred by Israeli soldiers and others supported by Israel at the sites.
The soldiers interviewed in the report said that they shoot at Palestinians as a method of crowd control. The report also noted that Israeli soldiers are now firing artillery shells at Palestinians as a method of crowd control, leading to ballooning numbers of Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers at these sites.
These massacres have become a near-daily occurrence since the GHF began its operations in Gaza in late May. An investigation by the BBC published last week debunked Israeli denials of mass killings of Palestinians at these sites by publishing videos that confirm these daily massacres.
While the BBC does not assert who is responsible for these attacks, this admission by Israeli soldiers and the testimony of Palestinians make clear that Israeli soldiers and the militias they support are likely responsible for these attacks.
As of early last week, more than 400 Palestinians have been killed while seeking food at sites operated by the GHF, according to the UN. The spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights called Israel’s weaponization of food “a war crime.” As of late last week, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that nearly 600 Palestinians have been killed while seeking food at the sites.
Photo: tayifmukta, via Shutterstock. Stock Photo ID: 2624131841