For decades, I have worked to defend Israel’s security and uphold human dignity across the region. That work has taught me many lessons, but one stands above the rest: In the face of suffering, you must act.
Today in Gaza, civilians are in crisis. Thanks to bold American leadership, help is reaching them. That’s what leadership looks like, and that’s why this moment matters.
Thanks to President Trump, the civilian population in Gaza is receiving free food aid safely and reliably. His administration is helping to power the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has distributed more than 150 million free meals to Palestinian civilians since launching operations in late May. The reactions have been telling.
The United Nations and other aid groups, fearful of a newcomer showing how their work can be done better, has become needlessly aggressive in working to undermine the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and refused to work with it cooperatively. The hungry civilian population is considered collateral damage.
The media, beholden to a narrative that Gaza is starving or that famine is imminent, has become a stenographer for the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. They publish reports without fact checking, context of the source for the reader, or any admission that there are no hungry members of Hamas. The world’s most recent example is the strong outstretched arm of a Hamas captor in a propaganda video showing 24-year-old emaciated hostage Evyatar David being made to dig his own grave in a tunnel.
Hamas, which depends upon the flow of UN aid to fund its terror operations, reportedly made the dismantling of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation a key demand in recent ceasefire negotiations brokered by the U.S. Hamas would rather Palestinians go hungry. Its leaders prefer the option of leveraging Palestinian suffering to advance their goals.
The Palestinian people — grateful for the opportunity to feed themselves and their families for free — should be thanking the foundation and Trump. After all, if not for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the emergency situation in which Palestinians find themselves would be far worse.
According to the U.N. itself, nearly 88 percent of its aid trucks have been looted either by hungry civilians or, more often, “forcefully by armed actors” since May 19. Precisely zero Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid trucks have been looted.
The foundation’s operations are built on discipline, transparency and efficiency. Theirs is the only model that is actually working in Gaza. The team has established secure distribution sites, built systems that track and protect aid and built trust with local Palestinian and Israeli partners.
Nevertheless, the foundation can only do so much with the resources it has — and at present, it’s foolish to think it can replace the UN. It cannot and it has said so itself.
But the foundation can scale and pressure can be increased on the U.N. to work with it in a capacity that ensures food is reaching the people. Trump can surge financial resources and demonstrate that in an American-led world order, the people come first and failing bureaucracies are given no quarter.
The $30 million order by the president in emergency funding helped the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation continue to operate. Trump also made it clear that he expects results. He urged swift delivery of aid and has repeatedly reminded the world that the goal is simple: feed people who need our help. And by every metric, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is succeeding at this.
Now, the Trump administration should double down by increasing its investments in the foundation and at the same time pulling its support from an obstinate U.N. refusing to reform itself. The American taxpayer should not be feeding Hamas, and the moral clarity both the foundation and the president have shown is absolutely critical.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is showing what it looks like to act in the face of suffering — not with platitudes, but with purpose. That is the standard. In moments like this, when others stall or retreat, leadership means stepping forward with urgency and conviction. For those of us who have spent decades working in this region, one truth has always endured: You do not look away from suffering. You meet it with action. That’s what President Trump has done. That’s what the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is doing. And that’s why this moment matters.
Norm Coleman served in the United States Senate representing Minnesota from 2003-2009. He is the National Chairman of the Republican Jewish Coalition’s Board of Directors.
