Ossoff, Warnock vote to curb U.S. arms sales to Israel amid crisis in Gaza

Images of starving children in Gaza are prompting new demands for a ceasefire in the region, and the leading international authority on hunger crises said the territory faces a “worst-case scenario of famine.”

Ossoff and Warnock were among 27 Senate Democrats who voted on the measure to limit rifle sales to Israel — a sharp increase from the 19 votes a similar motion drew in November. Some 24 Democrats voted for the resolution that applied to bombs sales.

Ossoff, the first Jewish U.S. senator in Georgia history, said the U.S. should not ignore the “extreme mass deprivation” and starvation of children in Gaza under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies.

But he said he opposed blocking the munitions sales because Israeli civilians depend on them. And he urged the U.S. to back a “massive infusion of resources to alleviate the extreme humanitarian and hunger crisis” in Gaza.

Warnock said what’s unfolding in Gaza now is a “moral atrocity.”

“I’ve made clear I support the state of Israel and its right to defend itself,” Warnock said. “Today, I urge the state of Israel, the United States and the world to move as quickly as possible to get the people of Gaza the same nourishment and care that we would want for our own children.”

The Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, U.S. Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, argued that Hamas was to blame both for the conflict and the current situation in Gaza. All Republican senators voted against both measures.

The resolutions were brought by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and they marked the third time he’s forced a Senate vote on halting Israeli arms sales since 2024. Each time, he’s criticized Netanyahu’s handling of the war and invoked the suffering of Palestinian civilians.

In November, votes by Ossoff and Warnock in support of the Sanders’ resolutions drew sharp criticism from some in Georgia’s Jewish community.

For Ossoff, the fallout was immediate and personal. The rabbi of Ossoff’s childhood synagogue and Israel’s consul general in Atlanta denounced his vote. Dozens of Jewish institutions joined the criticism.

Others, including more than 100 Jewish Georgians, signed a letter praising both Democrats for advocating “regional stability, security and peace.”

At the time, Ossoff explained his dissenting votes in a floor speech by invoking Republican President Ronald Reagan’s decision to block the sale of cluster-type artillery shells to Israel in 1982 to protect innocent lives.

In April, both Ossoff and Warnock voted against a Sanders-backed effort to block $8.8 billion in arms sales to Israel. Ossoff expressed concern the measure could hinder ongoing negotiations to release dozens of hostages held captive by Hamas.

The vote Wednesday came amid growing international pressure on Israel, including from President Donald Trump.

Israel has responded by announcing daily humanitarian pauses in fighting in parts of Gaza and airdrops of food and other supplies. But the U.N. and Palestinians on the ground say little has changed, and desperate crowds continue to overwhelm delivery trucks.

Hamas started the war with its attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, in which militants killed around 1,200 people and abducted 251 others. They still hold 50 hostages, including around 20 believed to be alive. Most of the rest of the hostages were released in ceasefires or other deals.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. Its count doesn’t distinguish between militants and civilians.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.