By STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats, including both Nevada senators, are imploring President Donald Trump's administration to step up its role in addressing suffering and starvation in Gaza, with more than 40 senators signing onto a letter Tuesday urging the resumption of ceasefire talks and sharply criticizing an Israeli-backed American organization that had been created to distribute food aid.

In a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Republican president's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, the senators said the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, created in February with backing from the Trump administration, has "failed to address the deepening humanitarian crisis and contributed to an unacceptable and mounting civilian death toll around the organization's sites."

Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), one of two Jewish women in the Senate and a former synagogue president, was one of the leaders of the letter. Rosen has been an ardent supporter of Israel since the beginning of the war in October 2023, previously urging colleagues to vote “no” on an arms ban to Israel and in November 2024, criticizing the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Israeli political leaders as “outrageous.”

“I've been gravely concerned by reports of starvation and the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s inability to meet the needs of Palestinian civilians, which has resulted in far too many casualties,” Rosen wrote in a statement to The Indy. “Israel’s announcement that it will begin airdrops and open up a humanitarian corridor is a positive step, but more needs to be done. It is time to focus on actions that can be taken to stop civilian suffering, bring the hostages home, and bring an end to this war.”

The letter marked a mostly united plea from Senate Democrats — who are locked out of power in Washington — for the Trump administration to recalibrate its approach after the collapse of ceasefire talks last week. Trump on Monday expressed concern about the worsening humanitarian situation and broke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's claim that people are not starving in the Gaza Strip. 

On Tuesday, Trump said that the U.S. will partner with Israel to run new food centers in Gaza to address the worsening humanitarian crisis there, but he and U.S. officials offered few additional details about the plan or how it would differ from existing food distribution centers.

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he returned from a trip to Scotland that Israel would preside over the new food centers “to make sure the distribution is proper.”

“We're going to be dealing with Israel, and we think they can do a good job of it," Trump said.

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) said it was "not at all credible" to think the Israeli military — one of the most advanced in the world — is incapable of distributing food aid or performing crowd control.

"They made a choice to establish a new way of doing food distribution," he said. "And it's not working at all."

The letter, obtained by The Associated Press, calls for a "large-scale expansion" of aid into Gaza channeled through organizations experienced working in the area. It also says efforts for a ceasefire agreement are "as critical and urgent as ever."

The message was led by four Jewish members of the Democratic Caucus — Sens. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Rosen and Schatz — and calls for the return of the roughly 50 hostages, 20 still believed to be alive, held by Hamas since its Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

The signatures from 44 senators — the vast majority of the Senate Democratic Caucus, including Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) — on the letter shows the extent to which Democrats have achieved some unity on a foreign policy issue that deeply divided them while they held the White House last year. They called for an end to the war that sees Hamas no longer in control of Gaza and a long-term goal of both an Israeli and a Palestinian state and opposed any permanent displacement of the Palestinian people.

Rep. Susie Lee (D-NV), a self-described “staunch supporter of Israel,” also issued a statement Monday addressing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, saying the “starvation of innocent children is unbearable to watch.”

“We have the means, we must also have the will,” she wrote in a press release.

Meanwhile, Republicans are backing Trump's handling of the situation and supporting Israel. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he was satisfied with Trump trying "to referee that, but the Israelis need to get their hostages back."

Still, images of the worsening hunger crisis in Gaza seemed to be reaching some Republican members of Congress.

Over the weekend, far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who routinely calls for an end to foreign aid, said on social media "what has been happening to innocent people and children in Gaza is horrific. This war and humanitarian crisis must end!"

For Schatz, it was a sign many Americans do care about suffering in other parts of the world, even after Trump won the election with "America First" foreign policy goals and kickstarted his administration by demolishing U.S. aid programs.

"They are seeing images of chaos, images of suffering that are either caused by the United States or at least could have been prevented by the United States," Schatz said. "And it is redounding negatively to the president."

Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti and Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.

Oona Milliken from The Nevada Independent contributed to this story.