Pressley Speaks to the Love of Parents Trying to Care for a Child as 16,500 Palestinians are Waiting to be Evacuated from Gaza for Medical Treatment

Pressley Led Over 100 Colleagues in Calling on State Department to Urgently Surge Humanitarian Aid and Infant Formula to Families in Gaza, Doubles Down on Demands

Video (YouTube)

WASHINGTON – Today, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) took to the House floor to make an urgent and emotional plea for humanitarian action to save children in Gaza in need of essential medical treatment and humanitarian aid after suffering a horrific genocide perpetrated by the Israeli military and ahead of the winter months.

Drawing commonality between parents in the United States and Palestinian parents whose children lack shelter, food, and medical care, Congresswoman Pressley shared the story of Hadeel, a mother in Gaza whose daughter Lana suffers from a kidney condition and is among the 16,500 people waiting to be evacuated for medical treatment.

A full transcript of the Congresswoman’s remarks is available below and the video is available here.

Transcript: Pressley Makes Urgent Plea for Humanitarian Action to Save Gaza’s Children in Powerful Floor Speech
House of Representatives
December 4, 2025

Mr. Speaker, every parent hopes that no harm, heartbreak or hardship finds their child.

We want our children, especially when they are babies, to know safety, warmth, full bellies and a peaceful slumber. 

When they are young, especially during the fall and winter months, in the throes of cold and flu season, little ones carry raspy coughs and runny noses home from the playground. 

Dads tuck their little ones in at night under a warm blanket, hoping they will sleep okay. 

They hold their babies to their chest and listen for the threat of labored breathing, wondering if they’ll have to make an ER run in the middle of the night.

They whisper a prayer every parent of every faith knows, “I hope my baby is okay.” 

But for parents in Gaza, as the weather turns, heavy rainfall and freezing temperatures present new threats. 

Palestinian families have endured a genocidal campaign for years. Their homes reduced to rubble. Many have no warm jacket to wrap their child in, or a dry blanket to tuck them under.

And still they whisper the same prayer, “I hope my baby is okay.”

Mr. Speaker in Gaza, children have been murdered as US bombs deployed by the Israeli army have rained down on civilians. Children have been murdered by sniper fire and starvation.

Every one of those, more than 20,000 children, every single one of them murdered was someone’s whole world. 

Since a cease fire was declared in the media and the world have shifted their gaze, but families and Gaza still live under the constant threat, the threat of violence, of the elements, of starvation. 

Earlier this year, my colleagues, Congresswoman Pettersen and Senator Gallego and I led over 100 members of Congress in urging the State Department to immediately surge humanitarian aid and ready-to-feed infant formula to families in Gaza to save lives. 

In a written response, the State Department expressed concern about the crisis, but words without action are not only empty, they are deadly. 

We have doubled down on our calls and demand the State Department send members of Congress a weekly update on exactly how much aid is entering Gaza and reaching desperate families. 

But Mr. Speaker, aid alone is not enough, especially not for our children who have suffered injuries, especially not for children with disabilities and complex medical conditions. 

Medical evacuation is a critical aspect of life saving humanitarian work, and right now, over 16,500 people are waiting to be medically evacuated from Gaza for essential treatment. 

I recently heard from a mother named Hadeel. Seven months ago, her six-year-old son died. He died while awaiting medical evacuation. He suffered from a kidney condition, and the decimated medical system in Gaza could not provide him the care he needed to survive. 

Now her daughter, Lana, who suffers from the same kidney condition is on the wait list for medical evacuation. Each day that goes by without adequate treatment, Lana’s life is in danger. 

Hadeel is no different from the parent in Boston who clutches their child in their arms and listens for labored breathing as they ride out the flu. 

Just like that parent, she would do anything for her baby. Just like that parent, she whispers a prayer, “I hope they will be okay.” 

Every child deserves to live and thrive. In the timeless words of James Baldwin, “the children are always ours, every single one of them all over the globe. And I’m beginning to suspect that whomever is incapable of recognizing this may be incapable of morality.”

Mr. Speaker, the United States of America built, bought and sold the bombs that killed Palestinians throughout this horrific genocidal campaign carried out by the Israeli military. 

The United States of America once claimed to be a moral and just authority, but today, all the globe sees is the blood on the hands of this nation. 

It is not too late to appeal to our better angels, to act with urgency to save lives, to support medical evacuations, to surge baby formula and aid, to chart a path forward to save lives. 

Every child is someone’s whole world. Every life is a universe. And our destinies are tied. 

I yield.

—

In August, Reps. Pressley and Pettersen, along with Senator Gallego, led their House and Senate colleagues, respectively, in sending letters to Secretary Rubio urging that the Trump administration use its full power to prioritize the additional surge of humanitarian aid, including the pallets of ready-to-feed baby formula that are sitting at the border, by facilitating the distribution by the Israeli government, alongside the United Nations and our allies. After receiving a response, Pressley, Pettersen and Gallego requested real-time, weekly updates on aid distributed to starving families.

Since the horrific October 7^th attack, Congresswoman Pressley has consistently and stridently called for a ceasefire to save lives, return all hostages, and surge humanitarian aid to Gaza. Rep. Pressley delivered a floor speech in which she called for urgent de-escalation in the region and renewed her calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and Israel to prevent a broader regional war.  Rep. Pressley introduced a pair of amendments to increase funding to global humanitarian assistance and place a one-year moratorium on the transfer of offensive weapons to the Israeli military.

• Rep. Pressley joined Congresswoman Haley Stevens (D-MI) and their colleagues on a resolution condemning Hamas’ brutal attack and hostage-taking, and demanding Hamas immediately release all hostages.
• Rep. Pressley joined Reps. Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Mark Pocan (WI-02), Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), James P. McGovern (MA-02), and 50 colleagues on a letter condemning the terrorist attacks by Hamas on the people of Israel, calling for Israeli military operations to follow the rules of international humanitarian law, and continuing to work toward peace in the region.
• Rep. Pressley joined her colleagues in announcing a resolution urging the Biden Administration to call for an immediate de-escalation and ceasefire in Israel and Gaza, to send humanitarian aid and assistance to Gaza, and to save as many lives as possible. She later joined her colleagues and a multi-faith, multiracial coalition of faith leaders and organizers for a prayer and press conference to renew their calls for a ceasefire. Rep. Pressley also joined dozens of rabbis and Members of Congress for a press conference to renew calls for a ceasefire in Gaza.
• Instead of attending Prime Minister Netanyahu’s address to Congress, Rep. Pressley spent the day centering people directly impacted by Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza
• Rep. Pressley delivered a floor speech in which she condemned antisemitism, Islamophobia, and all forms of hate on college campuses.
• Rep. Pressley joined a coalition of nearly 100 interfaith clergy and faith leaders on a joint statement on Martin Luther King Jr. Day calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
• Rep. Pressley joined Reps. Grace Meng (D-NY), Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), and nearly 150 colleagues in urging the State Department to use all tools at its disposal help get Americans out of Israel and back home to the United States. She applauded the State Department for heeding her calls on October 12, 2023 and continues to press for the urgent evacuation of Americans in Gaza.
• Rep. Pressley issued a statement following the safe evacuation of Massachusetts constituents Wafaa and Abood Okal and their one-year-old Yousef from Gaza.
• Rep. Pressley and Rep. Jamie Raskin led a group of 60 House lawmakers in urging the State Department to affirm the United States’ strong opposition to the forced and permanent displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, and to support an increase in humanitarian aid to the region.
• Rep. Pressley joined Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), Mark Pocan (WI-2), Betty McCollum (MN-4) and 20 of their colleagues in sending a letter to President Biden, asking him to support a bilateral ceasefire in Gaza to protect the one million children living there.
• Rep. Pressley joined a coalition of interfaith clergy and faith leaders for a vigil to mourn the tens of thousands of Palestinians, Israelis, and innocent civilians killed since October 7^th, and to renew calls for a ceasefire to save lives, return all hostages, and deliver humanitarian aid to the region.
• Rep. Pressley joined her colleagues at a press conference to condemn the Israeli government’s pending invasion of Rafah and continued her calls for a ceasefire in Gaza.
• Rep. Pressley joined her colleagues in calling for full funding of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) to provide urgent humanitarian relief to Gaza.
• Rep. Pressley joined Representatives Joaquín Castro, Jamie Raskin, Jan Schakowsky and 33 House Democrats to President Biden urging him to prevent an Israeli ground invasion of Rafah.
• Rep. Pressley, amid heightened tensions in the region, delivered a floor speech in which she called for urgent de-escalation in the Middle East and renewed her calls for a ceasefire in Gaza to prevent a broader regional war.
• Rep. Pressley filed a pair of amendments to increase funding to global humanitarian assistance and place a one-year moratorium on the transfer of offensive weapons to the Israeli military. The amendments were not adopted in the final legislation. 
• Rep. Pressley voted against HR 8034 to send more offensive weapons and funding to the Israeli military, citing the Israeli military’s callous disregard for human life in Gaza and significant human rights violations.
• Rep. Pressley issued a statement on the peaceful student protests taking place in Massachusetts and across the country.
• Rep. Pressley issued a statement applauding the Boston City Council for passing a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
• Rep. Pressley joined Representatives Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Madeleine Dean (PA-04) and 54 additional lawmakers in calling on the Biden Administration to use all tools possible to dissuade the Israeli government from moving forward with an offensive invasion into Rafah.
• Rep. Pressley issued a statement in response to the escalating situation in the Middle East.
• Rep. Pressley joined impacted families, faith leaders, and advocates to observe the anniversary of the horrific October 7, 2023 attack and commemorate the 1,200 Israelis killed by Hamas, the hostages killed and those still kidnapped, and the over 41,000 Palestinians in Gaza killed by the Israeli military over the past year.
• Rep. Pressley issued a statement marking the one-year anniversary of the horrific October 7^th attack.
• Rep. Pressley issued a statement urging the Senate to support Senator Bernie Sanders’ Joint Resolutions of Disapproval that would block the sale of offensive arms to the Israeli government.
• Rep. Pressley issued a statement on the ceasefire-hostage deal reached between Israel and Hamas in January 2025.
• Rep. Pressley is a co-sponsor of the Block the Bombs Act, which would withhold the transfer of offensive weapons to the Israeli government and demand the Israeli military’s compliance with U.S. and international law.

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