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In an effort led by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan), almost 20 Democratic lawmakers have called on the Trump administration to guarantee safe passage of the flotilla sailing to Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid.
“The law is clear: any attack on the Global Sumud Flotilla or its civilians is a clear and blatant violation of international law,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “The United States has an obligation to protect its citizens from foreign attack.”
The Global Sumud Flotilla, which set sail in August, is made up of dozens of civilian boats carrying volunteers from more than 40 countries, including the United States. The flotilla has already been attacked at least three times, “causing explosions, fire, and severe damage,” the lawmakers wrote, adding that U.S. Ambassador and Special Envoy Tom Barrack attributed two of the attacks to Israel.
In addition to protecting the flotilla, the legislators demanded that the Trump administration “address the issue at root of this voyage: the brutal Israeli blockade and genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza.”
The United Nations and numerous human rights organizations have declared that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, which it has carried out, in part, by creating a famine that has already killed more than 360 Palestinians, including 130 children.
“The deliberate obstruction of food, water, medicine, shelter and other relief – compounded by deadly attacks on civilians, including women and children, gathering at aid distribution points, and repeated forced displacement – has transformed hunger into a weapon of war,” a coalition of UN experts said earlier this month.
In a piece for The Guardian, Irish writer Naoise Dolan, a volunteer on the Global Sumud Flotilla, wrote that the boat she is on is “loaded with medicine, baby formula, prosthetic limbs for the many amputees that Israeli bullets have created.”
“Every available crevice of the boat has been crammed with emergency supplies for Palestinians,” she wrote.
On October 1, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which is one of the organizations participating in the Sumud Flotilla, is sending a boat to Gaza, carrying international journalists and medical professionals “to break through Israel’s near-total blockade on international reporting and medical access to the besieged territory,” the group said.
Israel has intercepted all humanitarian flotillas that have attempted to block its siege on Gaza. In July, Israeli forces raided the Handala flotilla and detained the volunteers onboard, including American labor leader Chris Smalls. When Smalls arrived at the Israeli prison, seven guards choked and kicked him. Smalls was the only Black person onboard the ship and the only activist subjected to that level of violence, according to the Gaza Freedom Flotilla Coalition.
In addition to Tlaib, the letter was signed by an additional eighteen Democratic Congressmembers, including Representatives Greg Casar (Texas); Nydia Velázquez (New York); Jesús García (Illinois); Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (New York); Delia Ramirez (Illinois); Pramila Jayapal (Washington); Summer Lee (Pennsylvania); Mark Pocan (Wisconsin); Al Green (Texas); Ayanna Pressley (Massachusetts); Ilhan Omar (Minnesota); and Bonnie Watson Coleman (New Jersey).
In a post on X, Jewish Voice for Peace thanked the lawmakers for “demanding safe passage for the Global Sumud Flotilla that is delivering humanitarian aid to Palestinians, and calling for an end to the Israeli government’s genocide and blockade in Gaza.”
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