Foreign Policy
US Policy on Gaza: What America Is Actually Doing
American policy on Gaza is not passive. It requires active decisions, and those decisions have consequences that are visible to the rest of the world even if they receive limited attention domestically.
The United States has supplied Israel with billions in military aid during the Gaza conflict — including precision munitions, bombs, and fighter jet components — while international organizations document civilian casualties at scale. (United Nations OCHA, Humanitarian Situation Report) The US State Department's own assessments have flagged concerns about whether US weapons are being used in ways consistent with American law requiring that recipients not use US arms against civilians.
At the United Nations Security Council, the US has vetoed multiple ceasefire resolutions. A veto is not an abstention. It is an active decision to block an outcome. Every time the Security Council has moved toward calling for a halt to fighting, the US has used its permanent member power to stop it.
Under Biden, one large weapons shipment was paused after domestic and international pressure over civilian casualties in Rafah. The Trump administration lifted that condition and restored full weapons transfers without restrictions.
What is the cost of this policy beyond Gaza itself?
Global opinion of the United States — already declining — has accelerated its fall in Muslim-majority countries, in Africa, in Latin America, and among younger populations in Europe. (Pew Research Center, Global Attitudes Survey) Countries that were once reliable US partners are publicly questioning the alignment. The soft power that takes generations to build is being spent faster than it can be replenished.
There is a genuine debate about Israel's security needs, about the role of Hamas, about what a sustainable solution looks like. Those are real and complicated questions. But watching the US veto ceasefire resolutions while civilian death tolls climb into the tens of thousands is not a complicated image. It is a clear one.
The world is watching American foreign policy in real time. The conclusions they are drawing will shape alliances, trade relationships, and the global order for decades. Gaza is not just a humanitarian catastrophe. It is also a stress test for what American values actually mean in practice.