Over 600 USAID officials support call for Gaza ceasefire

Hundreds of officials from the United States’ Agency for International Development (USAID) have expressed their support for a letter calling on president Joe Biden to push for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian resistance group Hamas, in the latest form of dissent against Washington’s firm support for Tel Aviv’s assault on the Gaza Strip.

According to a copy of the letter obtained by The Washington Post, dated Friday, USAID employees stated that they were “alarmed and disheartened at the numerous violations of international law; laws which aim to protect civilians, medical and media personnel, as well as schools, hospitals, and places of worship”.

The letter has reportedly been endorsed by over 630 employees of the agency, which is independent of the US government and responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance to developing nations.

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In an email to the paper, USAID spokesperson Jessica Jennings called the current situation in occupied Palestine “heart-wrenching”, and called on agency staffers and partners “to share their opinions with [USAID] leadership”.

The letter and its hundreds of endorsements represent the latest form of internal dissent against the US and the Biden administration’s infamously unwavering and unconditional support for Israel’s bombardment and invasion of the Gaza Strip over the past month.

It joins other recent instances of dissent including the resignation of a director in the US State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, Josh Paul, who said in in a note last month that the “response Israel is taking, and with it the American support both for that response and for the status quo of the occupation, will only lead to more and deeper suffering for both the Israeli and the Palestinian people”.

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