RELEASE: Gottheimer, Colleagues Urge UN to Deploy Peacekeepers to Protect Gaza Aid Convoys, Ensure Aid Reaches Civilians & Not Terrorists

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, September 22, 2025, U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) led a group of Members of Congress in a letter to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, urging him to request a resolution to the UN Security Council authorizing the deployment of UN peacekeepers to protect humanitarian aid convoys in Gaza. The letter comes at the opening of the eightieth session of the high-level General Debate as part of the United Nations General Assembly.

The Members stressed that despite the difficult security situation, the UN is failing to ensure aid reaches civilians. According to the UN’s own figures, nearly 90% of aid trucks are diverted or looted by Hamas or desperate civilians before reaching families in need. Over the weekend, Hamas terrorists were seen looting trucks filled with nutritional assistance for malnourished children.

“Please do not continue to allow aid trucks to be robbed by Hamas while civilians struggle to get food. As we know, Hamas diverts and sells aid and is not focused on feeding innocent Palestinian families and children,” the Members of Congress wrote in the letter to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres.

The Members continued, “According to the UN’s own figures, nearly 90 percent of trucks carrying UN aid are diverted or looted before reaching civilians. This has led to huge issues. To be blunt this is beyond a breakdown in logistics. It is a failure of the UN to execute its mission.”

The letter, led by Reps. Gottheimer, was also signed by: Jim Costa (CA-21), Henry Cuellar (TX-28), Laura Gillen (NY-4), Vincente Gonzalez (TX-34), Greg Landsman (OH-1), George Latimer (NY-16), Susie Lee (NV-3), Jared Moskowitz (FL-23), Donald Norcross (NJ-1), Jimmy Panetta (CA-19), Brad Schneider (IL-10), Darren Soto (FL-9), Tom Suozzi (NY-3), and Juan Vargas (CA-52).

Read the full letter here and below:

Secretary-General Guterres:

We write to you with an urgent call to request a resolution from the United Nations Security Council authorizing the deployment of a UN Peacekeeping operation to secure your aid convoys in Gaza, ensuring their safe passage. Please do not continue to allow aid trucks to be robbed by Hamas while civilians struggle to get food. As we know, Hamas diverts and sells aid and is not focused on feeding innocent Palestinian families and children.

According to the UN’s own figures, nearly 90 percent of trucks carrying UN aid are diverted or looted before reaching civilians. This has led to huge issues. To be blunt this is beyond a breakdown in logistics. It is a failure of the UN to execute its mission.

Within your own organization, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Michael Fakhri, has called for armed UN peacekeepers to escort aid convoys. Additionally, the “New York Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution” which passed the General Assembly last week, called for the protection of aid without offering solutions toward that end.

Without protection, trucks simply cannot survive the route. Notably, the UN has declined cooperation with Israeli security assistance that could offer safe passage. This lack of protection empowers the armed actors in Gaza, while forcing desperate civilians to risk their lives with no choice but to jump onto moving trucks to access aid. With that as the only option, the vulnerable are physically unable to access aid and rely on aid reaching its destination for secure distribution, which seldom happens.

The concept is simple: provide protection so that aid gets where it needs to go and deter armed factions from looting.

We have no time for bureaucracy. We urge you to take decisive action:

• Request a resolution to authorize the deployment of UN‑mandated peacekeepers to escort aid convoys into Gaza and ensure they reach civilians, not Hamas.
• Work alongside the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) to create an extensive aid distribution network in Gaza, utilizing the security of GHF distribution with the know-how and reach of the UN.
• Accept Israeli offers of coordination where they can provide security, contrary to the current posture of rejection.

If the United Nations is serious about bringing relief to Gazans, it will do what is necessary to achieve that goal, not accept a nearly 90 percent failure rate. Authorizing peacekeepers to protect aid convoys is a crucial step toward that end.

This moment calls for bold leadership. You must step up and lead the call for UN members to prioritize the needs of Gazan civilians, not Hamas.

Sincerely,

MEMBER OF CONGRESS

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