As the world watches Gaza starve, Republicans in Congress quietly advanced a new ban on funding a United Nations agency that delivers food aid to Palestinians.

The GOP-dominated House Appropriations Committee last week voted to bar financial support for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East, long the main hub of aid distribution in Gaza.

If passed by Congress, the ban would reinforce a financial blockade on UNRWA that began last year as Israel subjected the agency to an intense pressure campaign.

The latest move, however, comes amid an increasingly dire situation, as U.N. experts decried a full-fledged famine, and other Western countries are holding emergency meetings to address the crisis.

The timing of the latest proposed ban dismayed observers who have sought to increase the flow of aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

“It seems incredibly hypocritical to suddenly be shocked by these images when every humanitarian agency has said no one can replace UNRWA,” said Yara Asi, an assistant professor at the University of Central Florida’s School of Global Health Management and Informatics.

Congress first banned funding for UNRWA in March 2024 as Israel pushed allegations that the agency’s employees were involved in the October 7, 2023, attacks. Democratic President Joe Biden had already paused funding for the agency.

The House and Senate are working to replace that appropriations package........

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