Just Outside Gaza, Two U.S. Democratic Senators Call Out Israel's 'Propaganda' Amid 'Devastation and Starvation'
Two prominent Democratic senators used a trip to Israel and the West Bank last week to sharply criticize Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu government's handling of the war in Gaza and the hostage crisis, drawing renewed attention to growing rifts between Washington lawmakers and Jerusalem.
Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, both longtime advocates for Palestinian rights and a negotiated peace, visited sites across Israel, the West Bank and Egypt.
Their itinerary included a stop at the Ashdod Port, a briefing at the Kerem Shalom Crossing where aid enters the Strip, a meeting with Palestinian Americans in the West Bank, and discussions with hostage families at Tel Aviv's Hostage Square.
In recent weeks, Kerem Shalom has become a favored backdrop for pro-Israeli influencers and media personalities, many of whom are brought by the Israeli government to film themselves in front of lines of loaded food trucks and palettes of aid.
Israeli officials say that the failure to supply Gaza adequately is due to negligence or inefficiency by the UN and other aid groups. However, international aid groups reject these claims, noting instead that Israel has imposed numerous bureaucratic and physical obstacles at every stage of delivering food and aid to Gaza.
The influencers' videos often echo Israel's messaging, claiming there is no shortage of aid and that international agencies, especially the UN, are to blame for bottlenecks.
Merkley and Van Hollen filmed entirely different content. Merkley dismissed the presentation they received at Kerem Shalom as "pure propaganda," writing on X that they were given "a rosy briefing about aid reaching Gaza," only to conclude that "the reality is different."
Van Hollen underscored the sentiment the next day in a video filmed at the King Abdullah II Air Force Base in Jordan: "Netanyahu is restricting aid trucks into Gaza – the best way to get food to starving people there – so Jordan is delivering some with air drops," Van Hollen reported. "The Jordanians said Senator Jeff Merkley and I could join one of those flights to see the devastation, but Israel denied authorization for our scheduled flight."
The senators' criticisms echo what aid agencies have been saying for months. Despite Israeli assurances, the amount of food, water and medicine actually reaching Gaza remains insufficient. At Ashdod Port the day before, Merkley and Van Hollen observed World Food Program shipments bogged down by Israel's inspection procedures. "Israel's onerous screening process blocks badly needed food aid," Merkley wrote, charging that "Gaza is being starved."
The two also traveled to the West Bank, where they met with families of American citizens killed in recent settler attacks and visited Taybeh, a Palestinian Christian town that had been subjected to settler violence. In July, President Trump's ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, also visited the town and called on Israel to "aggressively investigate" the killing of a young Palestinian-American by settlers in the West Bank village of Sinjil.
"As the humanitarian disaster in Gaza continues, we cannot look away from rising Israeli settler violence in the West Bank," Van Hollen wrote. "Illegal settlements and violence MUST end."
In Ramallah, the senators met Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Vice President Hussein Al-Sheikh, according to a media handout by the president. In the meeting, Abbas pressed for an immediate cease-fire, humanitarian aid to Gaza, and a unified Palestinian Authority without armed factions. The group also discussed Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, reconstruction, and elections within a year, alongside halting settlement expansion and settler violence.
During their trip, Merkley and Van Hollen made sure to emphasize the toll of the war on Israelis, too. "Standing before burned-out homes at Kfar Aza, a kibbutz Hamas attacked on [October 7], Chris Van Hollen and I heard the IDF shells exploding in Gaza City, which we could see in the distance. We have to secure a cease-fire, end the destruction of Gaza, immediately return all hostages, and build a lasting peace," Merkley posted.
Senators Chris Van Hollen and Jeff Merkley meet with families of hostages held by Hamas, earlier in August in Tel Aviv.Credit: Tomer Appelbaum
At the beginning of their trip, the two had met with relatives of hostages still held in Gaza, "who have endured unbearable loss," Merkley said. "I stand with them in demanding that the Netanyahu government deliver a cease-fire and the immediate return of all the loved ones held in Gaza."
Van Hollen added that "time is running out" for the captives and insisted their plight must remain central to U.S. and Israeli policy.
Both senators have long records of breaking with Washington's traditional pro-Israel consensus. Merkley, first elected in 2008, was one of the earliest Democratic voices calling for conditions on U.S. military aid to Israel. Since the war in Gaza began, he has voted against supplemental funding packages that lacked humanitarian safeguards and has pressed for detailed reporting on Israel's use of U.S. weapons.
Van Hollen, who joined the Senate in 2017, has likewise been outspoken about Palestinian civilian casualties. Last year, he accused the Netanyahu government of imposing "collective punishment" in Gaza, and repeatedly urged the Biden administration and now the Trump administration to stop shielding Israel from scrutiny at the United Nations.
U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen, right, and Jeff Merkley, third from right, pose for a group photo with Egyptian Red Crescent officials in front of the gate on Egypt's side of the Rafah crossing with Gaza on Saturday.Credit: Mohammed Arafat / AP
The pair rounded out their trip with a visit to Cairo, where they met with Egyptian officials to discuss the blocked Rafah crossing, regional security, and Egypt's role in mediating between Israel and Hamas.