John,

The numbers are staggering: since the war began, the amount of food aid entering Gaza has plunged by 90%. Thousands of desperate people, many of them young children, are spending hours in the scorching heat, hoping for a meager serving of soup.

The Israeli government's blockade and severe restrictions on humanitarian aid to Gaza are undeniably the cause of this crisis. There is no excuse for obstructing the flow of life-saving essentials to a trapped and starving population.

The United Nations has clearly laid out four concrete steps Israel must take to facilitate aid and avert catastrophe:

• Opening new entry routes

• Allowing more aid trucks through

• Easing restrictions on aid workers

• Ensuring the safety of aid workers

President Biden has the influence to push the Israeli government to heed the UN's call and take immediate action to enable humanitarian relief.

With families going to bed starving, we must tell President Biden to pressure the Israeli government to increase aid now.

We cannot turn a blind eye as children waste away from hunger and preventable illness claims lives. We must make it clear that Gaza's pain is not distant or abstract to us, and that we refuse to accept a world where cruelty and indifference prevail.

The United States is Israel's closest ally and largest provider of aid and diplomatic support. That gives us the ability to push for the easing of the blockade before it's too late.

Our demands must be unequivocal: use every diplomatic lever to compel Israel to permit the free flow of aid into Gaza. Anything less is a betrayal of the values we hold dear.

With malnutrition already widespread, if the borders remain sealed and aid pipelines closed, the toll on innocent lives will be devastating. This looming catastrophe is not inevitable – it is the predictable result of deliberate policy choices that can and must be reversed.

We can stop a famine in Gaza. Call on Pres. Biden to pressure the Israeli government to increase aid now.

Thank you for refusing to stay silent as a preventable tragedy unfolds.

- DFA AF Team