Washington's Congressional Delegation Almost Silent As Israel Starves Gaza

As Israel weaponizes starvation in its ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, most of Washington’s Congressional delegation has remained shamefully silent. Reps. Pramila Jayapal (WA-07)and Adam Smith (WA-09) have previously condemned the use of starvation as a tactic of war in the last few weeks. But the rest of their Democratic colleagues haven’t just failed to call for an end to Israel’s deadly blockade — many haven’t even acknowledged the crisis in months, years, or at all since taking office.

On Tuesday evening, Al Jazeera reported that in the last 24 hours 15 people have starved to death in Gaza, including four children, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. That brings the starvation-related death toll to 101, including 80 children. 

And it's no accident — the starvation is by design. For almost five months, Israel has blocked all humanitarian aid from entering Gaza—cutting off food, water, and medicine from a population already on the brink. On May 27, Israel launched a US-backed aid distribution plan, but it keeps Israel in total control of food and supplies for the very people they’ve spent more than 600 days trying to annihilate. A small number of trucks have successfully entered Gaza with more than 3,000 aid trucks waiting to enter Gaza, according to the United Nations. And when aid does make it to Gaza, starving Palestinians risk getting sniped to receive it. According to the United Nations, Israel has killed at least 875 Palestinians while they sought aid.

In late June, Jayapal sent a letter with 18 other progressive lawmakers to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, demanding that the Trump administration take immediate action to stop Israel’s starvation of Gaza. 

“We cannot be silent,” the letter reads. “This current blockade is starving Palestinian civilians in violation of international law, and the militarization of food will not help. We demand an immediate end to the blockade, an immediate resumption of unfettered humanitarian aid entry into Gaza, the restoration of U.S. funding to UNRWA, and an immediate and lasting ceasefire. Any other path forward is a path toward greater hunger, famine, and death.”

As The Burner reported at the time, she was the only member of the Washington Congressional delegation to sign on to the letter. Earlier that month however, Smith released a statement condemning Israel’s violence against aid seekers. 

"Israel bears the responsibility to ensure that critically needed and long overdue aid makes it into Gaza reaching those who need it most,” Smith wrote. “The Palestinian people are suffering horribly. Not nearly enough food and humanitarian assistance is being delivered to Gaza and effectively and safely distributed. This must be fixed immediately.”

While neither Jayapal nor Smith have done much advocacy to stop the blockade and Israel’s starvation of Gaza, their colleagues have done even less. No other Washington Senator or Representative has condemned the blockade in its five months of existence. In fact, most of the Democrats in the Washington Congressional Delegation have not mentioned Gaza at all in 2025.

Searching the representatives official websites, Twitter accounts, and Google News results, Rep. Marilyn Strickland (WA-01) has been silent the longest, mentioning Gaza most recently more than 14 months ago in a statement that just barely scratched the surface of the devastation in Palestine. 

Rep. Marie Glusenkamp Perez (WA-03) also last mentioned Gaza in April of last year. In a press release, Perez gave a passing nod to the humanitarian aid to Gaza baked into the supplemental appropriations for Ukraine, Taiwan, and Israel’s defense that she voted to approve. 

Rep. Suzan Delbene (WA-01) has not mentioned Gaza since October 7, 2024, when she released a brief statement about the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack. 

Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Rep. Kim Schrier both last mentioned Gaza in a statement about the false ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. 

Rep. Rick Larsen (WA-02) told protesters at his town hall in May that he calls on the Trump administration and Israel to negotiate a permanent ceasefire. 

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) gestured toward how her bill authorizing trade agreement negotiations with the Middle East could help “reconstruction” in Gaza in a press release late last month. But any recent comments about Palestine are overshadowed by the fact she posed for a picture with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

And finally, looking through her press releases and social media, it appears that Rep. Emily Randall (WA-06), the newest Democrat member of the delegation, has not said anything publicly about the genocide in Palestine since taking office. 

Their silence is permission. As Israel starves Gaza with the support of the U.S., Washington’s Democratic delegation mostly looks away, offering no resistance, no urgency, no grief. And in that silence, another sound breaks through: the low, relentless rumbling of empty bellies in Gaza. History will remember this moment — and how little these elected officials did to meet it.