Panetta Voted to End US Funding for Humanitarian Aid to Gaza
March 2024
Rep. Panetta voted to stop US funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the foremost relief agency operating in Gaza.
At that time Senator Chris Van Hollen said, "Denying funding for UNRWA is tantamount to denying food to starving people and restricting medical supplies to injured civilians...To punish over 2 million innocent people in Gaza and UNRWA beneficiaries throughout the region for these actions is not just misguided—it’s unconscionable.”
In January 2024, several countries suspended their contributions to UNRWA after Israel alleged that some UNRWA employees were involved in the attacks of October 7, 2023. A UN investigation found 9 staff members (out of 13,000 in Gaza) "may have been involved" in the October 7th attacks. All countries have resumed their contributions to UNWRA, except the United States.
In January 2025 Israel banned UNRWA from operating in Gaza and the West Bank. In March Israel cut off food and medical aid to Gaza and cut off electricity for water plants . UNRWA is the agency with the human resources to end famine and relieve the trauma. Panetta has declined to support the UNRWA Funding Emergency Restoration Act or advocate that Israel allow UNRWA to distribute humanitarian aid.
2026 Update
Standing up for humanitarian aid is crucial at this time, when Israel has banned 37 humanitarian aid groups from Gaza and the West Bank, including Doctors Without Borders, American Friends Service Committee, and OXFAM. Supplying humanitarian aid should not be controversial. Yet on January 14, 2026 Panetta voted to ban US funding for UNRWA in Palestine.
Providing humanitarian aid to a starving nation – with funding Congress has appropriated year after year – should not be controversial.