[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 876 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 876
Recognizing the genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
November 13, 2025
Ms. Tlaib (for herself, Ms. Balint, Mr. Carson, Mr. Casar, Ms. Dexter,
Mr. Frost, Mr. Garcia of Illinois, Mr. Green of Texas, Ms. Jayapal, Mr.
Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Khanna, Ms. Lee of Pennsylvania, Mr. McGovern,
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Ms. Omar, Mr. Pocan, Ms. Pressley, Mrs. Ramirez, Ms.
Simon, Ms. Velazquez, and Mrs. Watson Coleman) submitted the following
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Recognizing the genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza.
Whereas the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
(Genocide Convention) was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly
on December 9, 1948;
Whereas the United States played a key role in drafting the Genocide Convention,
ratified the convention on November 5, 1988, and remains a party to the
convention today;
Whereas, under the Genocide Convention, the crime of genocide is committed when
one or more categories of underlying acts are committed with intent to
destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious
group as such, namely--
(1) killing members of the group;
(2) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(3) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated
to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(4) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; or
(5) forcibly transferring children of the group to another group;
Whereas the Genocide Convention obligates all state parties, including the
United States, to prevent and punish the crime of genocide;
Whereas the Genocide Convention Implementation Act of 1987 (also known as the
``Proxmire Act'') was passed by Congress and signed into law in 1988,
establishing the criminal offense of genocide within the United States
Code;
Whereas the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on
the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel
concluded on September 16, 2025, that the State of Israel has committed
and is continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in Gaza;
Whereas the International Association of Genocide Scholars, the world's leading
subject matter experts on genocide, concluded that the State of Israel
has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza;
Whereas highly respected international, Palestinian, and Israeli human rights
organizations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Doctors
Without Borders, Al-Haq, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Al
Mezan Center for Human Rights, B'Tselem, Physicians for Human Rights
Israel, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, Forensic
Architecture, and the University Network for Human Rights have concluded
that the State of Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in
Gaza;
Whereas the overwhelming evidence is clear that the State of Israel has
committed acts (actus reus) within the scope of the Genocide Convention
against Palestinians in Gaza, including by--
(1) killing members of the group;
(2) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(3) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated
to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; and
(4) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
Whereas the Israeli military has killed at least 67,160 Palestinians in Gaza,
the majority of whom are women and children, since October 2023;
Whereas existing evidence and expert analysis indicate that this death toll is
likely a severe undercount, with thousands more Palestinians buried
under the rubble and countless more dead as a result of siege, forced
starvation, and the systematic destruction of civil, water, and health
infrastructure;
Whereas the Israeli military's own data, as of May 2025, indicates that 83
percent of Palestinians killed in Gaza were civilians;
Whereas the Israeli military has wounded at least 169,679 Palestinians in Gaza,
creating the largest cohort of child amputees in modern history;
Whereas doctors treating patients in Gaza, including doctors from the United
States, have routinely treated children shot in the head or chest;
Whereas, according to UNICEF, nearly all of Gaza's 1,200,000 children need
mental health and psychosocial support, especially those exposed to
repeated traumatic events, those who have been maimed, those who have
lost parents, siblings, and close family members, and those with
disabilities;
Whereas over 500 schools and every university in Gaza have been destroyed or
severely damaged by Israeli forces, systematically destroying the
education system;
Whereas at least 53 percent of cultural heritage sites in Gaza have been
systematically destroyed or damaged, including hundreds of mosques and
churches;
Whereas at least 250 journalists and media workers have been killed by the
Israeli military, many of them directly targeted for their work;
Whereas 78 percent of all structures in Gaza have been destroyed or severely
damaged, including 92 percent of all residential buildings, as well as
77 percent of Gaza's roads;
Whereas at least 1,900,000 people, around 90 percent of Gaza's population, have
been forcibly displaced from their homes, most of them multiple times,
often forced to live in unsanitary and inhumane conditions, and whereas
fleeing civilians have been targeted and killed along evacuation routes
and in shelters designated by Israeli authorities as safe zones;
Whereas the capacity for agriculture and food production has been decimated and
just 1.5 percent of cropland remains accessible, undamaged, and suitable
for cultivation;
Whereas, since October 9, 2023, the Israeli Government's blockade and siege of
Gaza has cut off essential, lifesaving resources, blocking nearly all
food, baby formula, and humanitarian aid from entry and severely
restricting access to clean water, fuel, and electricity;
Whereas, as a result of the siege, more than 90 percent of the population in
Gaza has been facing acute food insecurity since December 2023, and
whereas since August 2025, over 500,000 people are experiencing famine
and catastrophic levels of food insecurity, with at least 455 recorded
malnutrition-related deaths;
Whereas, by August 2025, the Israeli Government's siege and forced starvation
left more than 54,600 children under 5 in Gaza acutely malnourished and
more than 12,800 severely malnourished, with around 16 percent of
children in Gaza aged 6 months to just under 5 years suffering from a
life-threatening type of malnutrition known as acute wasting, including
nearly 4 percent with severe wasting, facing increased risk of death if
untreated;
Whereas, since the establishment of militarized food distribution sites on May
27, 2025, Israeli forces and armed private contractors have shot and
killed at least 2,340 desperate Palestinians seeking food assistance;
Whereas the Israeli military has killed at least 543 aid workers, including
personnel of the United Nations, Doctors Without Borders, World Central
Kitchen, and the Palestine Red Crescent Society;
Whereas the health care system of Gaza has been systematically destroyed, with
the destruction of Gaza's hospitals leaving only 1 field hospital
remaining fully functional, with at least 1,581 doctors, nurses, and
other health workers killed by Israeli forces, and with at least 180
documented attacks on ambulances;
Whereas the bodies of Palestinian paramedics and rescue workers killed by
Israeli forces were found zip-tied with gunshot wounds to the head and
chest buried in a mass grave;
Whereas the destruction of Gaza's health care, sanitation, housing, and water
infrastructure has significantly contributed to the outbreak, rapid
spread, and increased mortality of infectious and communicable diseases,
including hepatitis A, dysentery, typhoid, scabies, and acute
respiratory infection;
Whereas the decimation of the health care system, including reproductive and
sexual health care, as well as the siege's impact on the availability of
food, medicine, baby formula, and clean drinking water, have had a
particularly harmful effect on pregnant, postpartum, and lactating
women, infants, and the overall fertility and reproductive prospects of
the population;
Whereas a targeted Israeli attack destroyed the Al-Basma IVF clinic, the largest
fertility center in Gaza, eliminating around 4,000 embryos and 1,000
sperm samples and unfertilized eggs;
Whereas Israeli forces have killed at least 1,009 infants under the age of 1,
including 450 babies who were both born and killed since October 2023;
Whereas, by September 2024, overall life expectancy in Gaza suffered a drastic
decrease of 34.9 years or 46.3 percent of preinvasion life expectancy,
with researchers noting the actual losses are likely higher if the
indirect effects of the war on mortality are considered;
Whereas a clear pattern of statements made by Israeli authorities, including but
not limited to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac
Herzog, former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant, current Minister of
Defense Israel Katz, Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, and
Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich, provides direct evidence of
genocidal intent (mens rea), as demonstrated by such examples as--
(1) then-Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant stating on October 9,
2023, ``We are imposing a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. No electricity,
no food, no water, no fuel--everything is closed. We are fighting human
animals, and we act accordingly'';
(2) Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT)
Major General Ghassan Alian announcing on October 10, 2023, that ``Israel
has imposed a total blockade on Gaza, no electricity, no water, just
damage. You wanted hell, you will get hell'';
(3) then-Israeli Minister of Energy and Infrastructure and now Israeli
Minister of Defense Israel Katz stating on October 11, 2023, that ``we
decided to stop the flow of water, electricity and fuel and now their local
power station has collapsed and there is no electricity in Gaza'';
(4) Israeli President Isaac Herzog stating on October 13, 2023, that
``It's an entire nation out there that is responsible. It is not true, this
rhetoric about civilians who were aware and not involved. It is absolutely
not true'';
(5) Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu writing a letter to Israeli
soldiers and commanders on November 3, 2023, saying, ``Remember what Amalek
did to you. We remember and we fight'', a reference to the Book of Samuel,
in which God tells the Israelites, ``Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly
destroy all that they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman,
child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey'', rhetoric that has since
been repeatedly echoed by other government officials, including Israeli
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich who stated in April 2024 that ``There are
no half measures. Rafah, Deir al-Balah, Nuseirat--total annihilation. `You
will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven'--there's no
place under heaven'';
(6) Colonel Erez Eshel stating on November 4, 2023, that ``It will take
so many years to revive from this blow . . . this place will be a fallow
land. They will not be able to live here''; and
(7) a recording of Major General Aharon Haliva, head of Israel's
Military Intelligence until April 2024, published on August 15, 2025, in
which he stated that ``the fact that 50,000 have already been killed in
Gaza is necessary and required for future generations . . . it does not
matter if they are children. I'm not speaking out of revenge. I'm talking
about a message for future generations. From time to time, they need a
Nakba to feel the cost'', referring to the violent ethnic cleansing of over
750,000 Palestinians from their homes and homeland by Zionist militias and
the Israeli army during the establishment of the State of Israel in 1947 to
1949;
Whereas the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants on November 21,
2024, for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli
Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant, charging both with the war crimes of
starvation as a method of warfare and of intentionally directing an
attack against a civilian population, as well as the crimes against
humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts;
Whereas the United States became a party to the Statute of the International
Court of Justice when it ratified the United Nations Charter in 1945 and
remains a party to the Statute today;
Whereas the International Court of Justice ordered binding provisional measures
in the case Application of the Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v.
Israel) on January 26, 2024, on March 28, 2024, and on May 24, 2024,
requiring specific actions from the State of Israel to prevent the
commission of acts within the scope of the Genocide Convention;
Whereas, through these provisional measures, the International Court of Justice
put all third states on notice of a serious risk that genocide was being
or would be committed;
Whereas the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry found
that the State of Israel has acted in flagrant disregard of the
International Court of Justice's binding orders;
Whereas, between October 2023 and September 2025, the United States provided an
estimated $21,700,000,000 in military aid to Israel, and during that
same period, the White House authorized or notified over $30,000,000,000
in additional new arms sales agreements to be paid for and delivered in
future years; and
Whereas the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry,
having concluded that the State of Israel has committed and is
continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, called on
all countries to fulfill their legal obligations to prevent and punish
the crime of genocide, and laid out concrete steps for third states,
such as the United States, to take to meet these binding obligations:
Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that
it is the policy of the United States to--
(1) prevent and punish the crime of genocide, wherever it
occurs;
(2) officially recognize that the State of Israel has
committed the crime of genocide against the Palestinian people
in Gaza;
(3) respect the United States binding legal obligations as
a party to the Genocide Convention and under customary
international law to prevent and punish the crime of genocide
in Gaza, employing all means reasonably available, including
by--
(A) ceasing the transfer of arms and other
equipment or items to the State of Israel or third
states where there is reason to suspect their use in
military operations that have involved or could involve
the commission of genocide;
(B) ensuring that the State of Israel duly
implements all provisional measures ordered by the
International Court of Justice since January 26, 2024;
(C) ensuring that individuals and corporations in
the United States and within United States jurisdiction
are not involved in the commission of genocide, aiding
and assisting the commission of genocide, or incitement
to commit genocide, and investigating and prosecuting
those who may be implicated in these crimes under
international law;
(D) facilitating investigations and domestic
proceedings and taking action, including imposing
targeted, lawful sanctions, with respect to the State
of Israel and individuals or corporations that are
involved in or facilitating the commission of genocide
or incitement to commit genocide; and
(E) cooperating with the investigation of the
Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal
Court (ICC) and lifting all ICC-related United States
sanctions;
(4) use the United States voice and vote in the United
Nations Security Council and the United Nations General
Assembly to advance efforts to prevent and punish the crime of
genocide in Gaza; and
(5) ensure that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency
for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is robustly
funded to meet the urgent humanitarian needs of Palestinians
facing genocide in Gaza.
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