Parents know the panicked feeling of fumbling for a bottle to settle a fussy baby in the middle of the night. But imagine if a military blockade stood between you and the formula your baby desperately needed. Imagine if you had nothing to offer them to soothe their hungry cries. That is the daily reality for families in Gaza right now.

Critical humanitarian aid — food, water, and baby formula sits at the border under Israeli military control while families are starving. Just days ago, the United Nations affirmed what we have known — people in Gaza are at critical risk of death by starvation.

The famine has reached an unprecedented level of crisis. And infants and children are particularly susceptible to starvation. Babies need formula or breast milk as their primary food source for their first year of life. Food is so hard to come by in Gaza, few mothers have access to the nutrition needed to sustain breastfeeding, rendering formula the only option for infant survival.

This is a man-made crisis. This is starvation as a weapon of war. This is a genocide unfolding before our eyes in real time.

Today I led over 100 of my Congressional colleagues in calling on Secretary Rubio to urgently use the full authority and leverage of the United States government to pressure the Israeli government and immediately surge humanitarian aid, medical supplies, and ready to feed formula to Gaza.

We need to demonstrate strong public pressure for this. Sign on here to join us in calling on Secretary Rubio to take immediate action to surge baby formula to families in Gaza and end this crisis.

We have seen the images captured by brave journalists in Gaza, children and elders alike starving, thousands killed by Israeli airstrikes, survivors crying out for mercy.

Peace is possible. A just world is possible. And I will not let up. Our humanity is at stake and our destinies are tied.

In solidarity,

Ayanna