Latest Israel Weapons Package Highlights Urgency of Block the Bombs Act | Palestine Policy Roundup 07.07.25
Welcome to the Palestine Policy Roundup, a weekly publication of the IMEU Policy Project.
👀 ICYMI: MEMBERS OF CONGRESS SPEAK OUT
Rep. Chuy Garcia: “What we’re seeing in Gaza is the systematic starvation of its people by the Israeli govt., along with frequent attacks near aid distribution centers that should be safe. We must do everything in our power to stop this mass starvation.”
Sen. Chris Van Hollen in response to a report that US contractors are firing at Palestinians seeking food: “It is unconscionable that American taxpayers are paying for these killings. Shame, shame on Donald Trump and the complicity of everyone who continues to look the other way.”
Rep. Delia Ramirez: “Every day that dangerous duo - Trump and Netanyahu - act without Congressional oversight, they drive us closer to a regional war while trying to distract us from the starving of thousands of Palestinians. Congress must act to Block the Bombs!”
Rep. Rashida Tlaib: “Nearly every day this month, Israeli forces have deliberately shot and killed starving Palestinians seeking food. Now, the Trump Admin has decided to support this death trap with $30 million. This is genocide—we are funding it. And the world is doing nothing to stop it.”
DC DEVELOPMENTS
💣 TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES LATEST TRANCHE OF WEAPONS TO ISRAEL AS US-SUPPLIED WEAPONS USED AGAINST PALESTINIANS
Last Monday, the Trump administration announced yet another shipment of weapons to Israel valued at $510 million and presumably funded by American taxpayers. This package includes thousands of Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) kits for use on “bunker buster” and 500-pound bombs. Like many of the weapons used by Israel during its genocide in Gaza, these weapons have been used extensively in possible war crimes committed by the Israeli military.
JDAMs were used in at least two Israeli attacks on Palestinians last week. On Monday, the same day that the weapons package was announced, Israel killed more than 30 Palestinians–including Palestinian artists Amna Al-Sami and Ismail Abu Hatab–in a strike on the Al-Baqa cafe near Gaza City. Munitions expert Trevor Ball identified fragments of a US-made JDAM kit that was likely fitted to a US-made MK-82 500-pound bomb, as reported by The Guardian.
On Friday, Ball also identified a US-made MK-84 2,000-pound bomb fitted with a US-made JDAM kit used in a strike on a home in Nuseirat.
The use of these types of bombs in civilian areas likely constitutes war crimes because of the indiscriminate and disproportionate devastation they cause. Israel has repeatedly used these types of bombs and JDAMs in apparent war crimes.
This announcement also came just days before the passage and signing of legislation championed by President Trump which will strip tens of millions of Americans of needed services. While the administration is sending this tranche of weapons on top of the more than $12 billion in weapons it has already sent to Israel this year, millions of Americans will lose access to Medicaid and many rural hospitals will be forced to restrict care or close.
Members of Congress cannot stand by as the Trump administration continues to deepen US complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza while ignoring the needs of Americans. They can send a strong message of opposition to this decision by supporting the Block the Bombs Act, a bill which seeks to block the delivery to Israel of JDAMs, bombs in the MK-80 series, and many other weapons used in its genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
📖 LEARN MORE: Check out IMEU Policy Project’s policy memo on the need for the Block the Bombs Act and Israel’s use of JDAMs and MK-80 series bombs in apparent war crimes in Gaza.
🚨 PRESIDENT TRUMP TO HOST ALLEGED WAR CRIMINAL BENJAMIN NETANYAHU FOR A THIRD TIME IN JUST OVER SIX MONTHS
Once again, President Donald Trump has invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for another meeting at the White House. This is the third time that Netanyahu is visiting Trump since his second term began in January. This is also the fourth time he has visited the US since warrants for his arrest were issued by the International Criminal Court in response to his responsibility for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity against Palestinians in Gaza.
The trip is reportedly to celebrate the illegal US and Israeli attacks on Iran in June, but Trump and Netanyahu are also expected to discuss the latest proposal for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza, the terms of which reportedly would fail to guarantee an end of Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Notably, during Netanyahu’s first visit this year, President Trump called for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza and US military occupation of the area.
Netanyahu and other members of the Israeli government have repeatedly cited Trump’s ethnic cleansing plan as the end goal of Israel’s weaponization of food and its concentration of Palestinians to shrinking areas of Gaza.
🍎 19 MEMBERS OF CONGRESS CONDEMN ISRAEL’S WEAPONIZATION OF FOOD THROUGH GAZA HUMANITARIAN FOUNDATION
Last Monday, Members of Congress led by Rep. Rashida Tlaib sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemning Israel’s use of starvation as a weapon of war and rejecting its weaponization of food through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). The letter correctly highlights the GHF’s inability to meet core humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality, and independence, and international standards.
In addition to raising concerns about GHF, the letter also calls for an end to Israel’s blockade and for the unfettered entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza delivered by reputable international organizations.
This letter comes at a critical moment: last Friday the State Department announced $30 million in US funding for the shadowy GHF through USAID, reportedly bypassing the agency's procedures and staff concerns about the organization’s inability to maintain humanitarian principles. As of July 5, nearly 750 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 5,000 have been injured by the Israeli military or militias supported by Israel in near-daily massacres at GHF sites since they began operating in late May.
As Israel continues to use these sites to concentrate Palestinians in the tip of southern Gaza as a prelude to potential ethnic cleansing, its obstruction of humanitarian aid has continued virtually unabated. Israel has done so by dismantling other mechanisms for credible international humanitarian organizations to deliver aid, and by forcing Palestinians to leave their homes and walk miles just for a possibility of receiving a meager package of food at GHF sites after passing through what Israeli soldiers have called “killing fields”.
This letter sends a clear message of opposition to further US complicity in Israel’s weaponization of food in Gaza and to US complicity in the Trump administration’s and Israel’s broader goal for the potential ethnic cleansing of Palestinians out of their homeland.
IN THE NEWS
📦 170 NGOS CALL FOR SHUT DOWN OF GAZA HUMANITARIAN FOUNDATION; ISRAEL USING STARVATION TO COMMIT GENOCIDE
In a statement published last Tuesday, 170 organizations and humanitarian groups called for an end to Israel’s weaponization of food through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) scheme and for Israel to lift its blockade of humanitarian aid from entering Gaza. The statement also calls for the return to UN-coordinated measures to distribute aid in Gaza.
The statement highlights that Israel’s continued blockade of humanitarian aid from entering Gaza has been used to shut down alternatives to the GHF sites and that Israeli restrictions are forcing Palestinians to trek miles, sometimes through areas where the Israeli military is actively operating, just for the possibility of receiving food. Once at these sites, Palestinians are forced to struggle for a limited supply of food and are routinely massacred by the Israeli military.
Days after this statement was published, a report from Amnesty International found that Israel is continuing to use starvation to commit genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
The report, which is based on the testimonies of more than 20 Palestinians, concludes that Israel has “turned aid-seeking into a booby trap for desperate starved Palestinians” by preventing the UN and other humanitarian organizations from distributing aid and forcing Palestinians to risk their lives for food at GHF sites. It also notes that very little food is reaching those who need it the most, and Israel’s blockade on other aid, such as fuel, is preventing desperately needed medical treatment.
The report concludes that the evidence gathered suggests that “the GHF was designed so as to placate international concerns while constituting another tool of Israel’s genocide.” This conclusion is in line with comments made by both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
PALESTINE/ISRAEL DEVELOPMENTS
⚠️ WHISTLEBLOWERS ALLEGE US CONTRACTORS AT GHF SITES ARE ATTACKING PALESTINIANS SEEKING FOOD
A new report published by the Associated Press revealed that American contractors working at sites operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) are attacking Palestinians who are seeking food there. The report features the testimonies of two contractors who work at the sites along with videos and internal reports and communications.
The whistleblowers allege that Americans working at the site are using bullets, stun grenades, and pepper spray at nearly every distribution, and that their colleagues are “often unqualified, unvetted, heavily armed and seemed to have an open license to do whatever they wished.”
One video appears to show a contractor firing at a Palestinian and others celebrating his act, though the view of this scene is blocked by a large dirt mound. A whistleblower also testified that he watched a contractor shoot in the direction of Palestinians leaving the site and that one dropped to the ground, seemingly hit by bullets.
Other photos and videos taken during and after attacks on Palestinians at the sites show that Palestinians were hit by fragments of stun grenades and tear-gassed in the face. Videos also show American contractors lobbing stun grenades into large crowds of Palestinians who are penned into a small area by fences erected at the sites.
These contractors are reportedly also coordinating with the Israeli military in its attacks and surveillance of Palestinians seeking food. A contractor is heard in one video remarking that he arranged for tank fire by the Israeli military on Palestinians.
A whistleblower reported that the Israeli military is using facial recognition technology to identify Palestinians and that those photos were circulated to contractors. The contractor and his colleagues were instructed to take photos of Palestinians deemed “out of place,” which are then added to the facial recognition database.
This reporting provides further evidence of the fact that GHF sites are being used to weaponize food and further the genocide and plans for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. Palestinians who have been starved by Israel’s months-long blockade on humanitarian aid are caught between these alleged attacks by US contractors and attacks by the Israeli military, which deliberately fires at them.