Palestinian children are starving to death. The U.S. shut off humanitarian aid.

More than 27,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel’s war on Gaza began. Half of the buildings in the territory have been destroyed, 1.2 million people lack shelter, and 90 percent of the population regularly goes a whole day without food.

Now these dire conditions are likely to get even worse — because the U.S. and at least a dozen other countries have completely shut off funding to the key humanitarian agency still operating in Gaza, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.

This is a truly catastrophic development. UNRWA has continued to operate throughout the war even as at least 152 U.N. relief workers have been killed. Without it, Gaza could suffer a full-blown famine.

The Intercept is among the few U.S. news outlets willing to hold the Biden administration accountable for its shocking indifference to Palestinian suffering and blank-check support of Israel — from defunding UNRWA to fast-tracking billions in military aid.

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Eleven days ago, the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled overwhelmingly in favor of South Africa in its case against Israel for alleged genocide in Gaza.

That same day, the U.S. government announced it would suspend funding to UNRWA — whose statements were cited multiple times at The Hague — based on Israeli allegations that 12 of the agency’s 30,000 employees were involved in Hamas’s October 7 attacks.

Israel’s claims are difficult to verify, and even Secretary of State Antony Blinken admitted the U.S. hasn’t independently investigated them. Many Israeli officials have long been opposed to UNRWA because the U.N. grants Palestinians refugee status and the right to return to their homes in Israel.

Now major U.S. news outlets like the Wall Street Journal are ramping up the propaganda, claiming for instance that one in 10 UNRWA staff have “links” to Hamas. Never mind that Hamas is the governing authority in Gaza, which UNRWA would necessarily have to work with in order to operate in the region.

Republicans in Congress have joined the pile-on as well. Legislation to permanently defund UNRWA could reach the floor of the House of Representatives as soon as February 12.

With Gaza on the brink of a full-blown famine, defunding the U.N.’s relief agency is disastrous. And with so few major Western news outlets willing to challenge Israel or the Biden administration’s support for the war on Gaza, The Intercept’s reporting is more vital and needed than ever.

Please make a donation to help support The Intercept’s coverage of Israel’s ongoing bombardment of Gaza and the rapidly worsening humanitarian crisis on the ground.

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