Rubio welcomes Israel letting aid into battered Gaza
The United Nations said on Tuesday it has received permission to send some 100 trucks of aid into Gaza.
A man holds a wounded child after receiving treatment at Al-Awda Hospital at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, following an Israeli airstrike that hit a school in the camp on May 19, 2025. Picture: Eyad BABA / AFP.
WASHINGTON - US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday welcomed Israel's decision to allow some aid into Gaza after more than two months of blocking food and other supplies into the war-battered territory.
"We are pleased to see that aid is starting to flow in again," Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Replying to a Democrat who said that the initial 100 trucks of aid was far too little, Rubio said: "I understand your point that it's not in sufficient amounts, but we were pleased to see that decision was made."
The United Nations said on Tuesday it has received permission to send some 100 trucks of aid into Gaza, where experts have warned of a risk of famine as the Israeli blockade brought severe shortages of food and medicine.
President Donald Trump last week said that "a lot of people are starving" in Gaza, although his administration has been careful not to criticize its ally directly.
The United States and Israel have backed a proposal for a foundation to distribute aid in Gaza without participation of the United Nations, which Israel has often denounced.
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Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley pointed to remarks by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that Israel risked losing support of the United States, its key ally, if Gaza suffers starvation.
Pointing to criticism of Israel by Canada, France and Britain, Merkley asked Rubio: "Is the administration conveying to the Netanyahu government that encouraging migration through food denial is an unacceptable strategy?"
"We don't view that that's their strategy," Rubio said, adding that the solution for Gaza was the "elimination of Hamas," which triggered the war with its unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.