More than 14,000 need urgent medical evacuation for life-saving treatment, including thousands of children

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The readout below is attributable to Aaron White, Director of Communications for Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.): 

This afternoon in his Capitol Hill office, Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) met with Michael Herzog, Ambassador of Israel to the United States, about the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. In the meeting, the Senators urged the Netanyahu government to rush life-saving medical aid to Palestinians and immediately begin expediting evacuations of children and other civilians with complex medical needs. The lawmakers stressed the protection, care and welfare of injured children in Gaza is an urgent priority of the United States, and an obligation under international humanitarian law.  

The Members pressed Israel to work with its neighbor Egypt to create routes of evacuation for Palestinian children in high-risk medical situations. The Senators reiterated that lifesaving medical care for Palestinian civilians—including children in Gaza—is an urgent necessity. The Senators expressed their readiness to work with Israel on this humanitarian priority. 

This meeting was requested by the Senators in a July 2024 letter sent to Ambassador Herzog and Motaz Zahran, Ambassador of Egypt to the United States. Read the full letter here. 

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