The US Agency for International Development is under pressure from some of its staff who say the governmental organisation, who help fund and collaborate private philanthropies, has been unable to grasp the severity of the Gaza crisis unfolding, amid a devastating bombing campaign by Israel. 

During an open event named ‘critical importance of supporting and safeguarding health workers’ in Washington DC in early April, USAID assistant administrator for global health Atul Gawande struggled to answer questions from health workers about whether he condemned Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians and 200 humanitarian workers in Gaza.  

One audience member was asked to leave, before she was threatened to be removed.

‘Since you have made a statement on the attacks on health workers in Ukraine, will you condemn the attacks on healthcare workers in Gaza,’ asked a health worker, recorded on a publicly circulated video seen by Alliance. She had moments before been asked to leave and was warned that the police would be called. 

Gawande left the stage when asked if Israel was complying with humanitarian law. 

Former USAID workers have also challenged the organisation over what they believe has been a muted stance over Gaza.   

In January, USAID chief Samantha Power, also a scholar on genocide, was confronted by staff concerned by the organisation’s responsibility to respond to distressed Palestinian suffering from a lack of food, water and medicine. 

 ‘You wrote a book on genocide and you’re still working for the administration: You should resign and speak out,’ said Agnieszka Sykes, a global health specialist who quit her job in January, according to The Washington Post.  

USAID receives its funding through the US Congress. The development agency currently lists 22 programmes it funds in the West Bank and Gaza on its People-to-People Partnership for Peace Fund, including cross border education and technology.

In a statement following the killing of World Central Kitchen aid workers by the Israeli Defence Force, USAID said it would ‘acknowledge Israel’s commitment to conduct a comprehensive investigation’.  

The CEO of World Central Kitchen (WCK), Erin Gore, said the Israeli army ‘cannot credibly investigate its own failure in Gaza’. 

‘[The IDF’s] apologies for the outrageous killing of our colleagues represent cold comfort. It’s cold comfort for the victims’ families and WCK’s global family,’ said Gore. 

The World Central Kitchen has suspended operations, at a time when nearly a third of the Gaza population is on the brink of starvation. 

In a briefing with relief organisations, Scott Paul, associate director for peace and security at Oxfam America, said: ‘Let’s be very clear. This is tragic but it is not an anomaly. The killing of aid workers in Gaza has been systemic.’ 

Shafi Musaddique is the news editor of Alliance magazine.