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humanitarian aid
Trump-Musk Shutdown of USAID 'Would Have Deadly Consequences for Millions'
"Dismantling USAID would be a callous, destructive political power play," warned the president of Oxfam America.
Feb 03, 2025
The unelected billionaire given free rein to tear through the federal government said early Monday that U.S. President Donald Trump agrees with the ongoing push to shutter the United States Agency for International Development, the single-largest contributor of humanitarian assistance worldwide.
Elon Musk, the head of an outside advisory commission that has trampled the law as its agents work to access and take over critical government operations, said during an event broadcast on the social media platform he owns that he has checked with Trump "a few times" about whether he wants USAID shut down. According to Musk, Trump replied, "Yes."
"So we're shutting it down," said Musk, who claimed the agency is run by "radical lunatics."
Over the weekend, as Common Dreamsreported, two USAID security officials were forced out after they refused to give Musk agents access to internal systems and classified material. USAID's website has also gone dark, an ominous development for an agency that has become one of the Trump administration's top targets.
In addition to the grave political implications of Musk's maneuvers—which one observer described as a "textbook coup"—humanitarian Abby Maxman, president and CEO of Oxfam America warned in a statement that "dismantling USAID would be a callous, destructive political power play that would have deadly consequences for millions of people living in dire humanitarian emergencies and extreme poverty."
"Any attempt by President Trump to dissolve or merge USAID with the State Department would be legally dubious and must be swiftly challenged in court," Maxman added.
"If this were Pakistan, Chad, or Venezuela, the headlines wouldn't hedge: A billionaire oligarch seizes control, dismantling democracy in real-time."
The Trump administration has already instituted a sweeping pause on foreign aid distributions, sparking chaos and panic around the world as charitable organizations scramble to understand the consequences for their lifesaving work.
"One had to decide whether to abide by a stop-work order or deliver lunches to schoolchildren in impoverished communities, as it has for years," TIMEreported. "It decided to obey the order, wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of perishable food. Another is figuring out whether to close health clinics for pregnant mothers in Haiti, leaving them with scant alternatives for a place to give birth."
Reports indicate the Trump administration has discussed plans to "strip a slimmed-down U.S. Agency for International Development of its independence and put it under State Department control." By Saturday, according toThe New York Times, "lawmakers had received word that at least some of the USAID signs at the agency's headquarters in downtown Washington had come down, and rumors were circling that mission directors around the world were being called back to the United States."
"Two USAID employees, who work in the Washington headquarters and spoke on condition of anonymity because of an order barring employees from discussing any changes to the agency, said that they were working under an atmosphere of fear and chaos, and that half of the agency's workforce had been eliminated in the last week," the Times added.
Paul O'Brien, executive director of Amnesty International USA, said in a statement that "governments around the world are significantly better equipped to meet their human rights obligations because of the technical and financial resources USAID provides."
"An abrupt collapse of the agency," O'Brien warned, "would put the rights of millions of people around the world at greater risk as a result."
Progressive strategist and organizer Waleed Shahid wrote over the weekend that "if this were Pakistan, Chad, or Venezuela, the headlines wouldn't hedge: A billionaire oligarch seizes control, dismantling democracy in real time."
"Musk's loyalists, armed with executive orders instead of rifles, are gutting the civil service, locking officials out of government systems, and dictating policy from a boardroom-turned-war room," Shahid continued. "Trump, a fading strongman, is the figurehead; Musk, the junta's real leader. Treasury, national security, and federal agencies—one by one, falling under private rule. In any other country, experts would call it state capture, a textbook coup. Here, the press still asks if democracy is in danger, as if waiting for the moment history makes it undeniable."
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Trump Admin Forces Out USAID Official Who Refused to Comply With 'Illegal' Purge
A career official at the U.S. Agency for International Development said he was placed on leave after refusing an order to "violate the due process of our employees."
Jan 31, 2025
A career official at the U.S. Agency for International Development informed his colleagues Thursday that he was placed on administrative leave after refusing to carry out what he described as an unlawful purge directive handed down by the agency's front office and the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency.
Nicholas Gottlieb, director of employee and labor relations at USAID, wrote in an email to other agency workers that he was "instructed... to violate the due process of our employees by issuing immediate termination notices to a group of employees."
"I refused and have provided Acting Administrator [Jason] Gray with written notification of my refusal," Gottlieb continued. "I have recommended in that written notification that his office cease and desist from further illegal activity."
Gottlieb went on to write that he was placed on administrative leave, effective immediately, after declining to carry out the termination directive.
Gottlieb's removal comes days after the Trump administration placed dozens of senior USAID officials on leave, accusing them—without providing any specific details—of attempting to "circumvent" the president's sweeping freeze on U.S. foreign aid. (Military assistance to Israel is among the few exemptions.)
According toThe Washington Post, Gottlieb on Thursday sent an email to the officials placed on administrative leave saying he had"reviewed the materials that served as the purported basis for your placement in this status" and "found no evidence that you engaged in misconduct.”
The aid freeze has led U.S.-funded aid programs around the world, including some that provide life-saving humanitarian assistance, to begin "firing staff and shutting down," The Associated Pressreported earlier this week.
"The aid community is grappling with just how existential this aid suspension is," said Oxfam America president Abby Maxman, whom AP described as "one of the few aid officials willing to speak publicly about the impact of the freeze following Trump administration warnings not to."
Citing current and former USAID officials, Reutersreported earlier this week that the ongoing purge at the agency appears "designed to silence any dissent" over Trump's "plans to dramatically reshape U.S. foreign aid."
While the Trump administration's assault on government agencies and officials has been far-reaching, USAID has emerged as a top target of White House officials.
Stephen Miller, the far-right extremist serving as White House deputy chief of staff, singled out USAID during a CNNappearance earlier this week, claiming without evidence that 98% of the agency's workforce "either donated to Kamala Harris or another left-wing candidate."
Vox's Dylan Matthews wrote Thursday that USAID is "worth paying attention to, both because it does important work that belies its size and status, and because it's become an early case study in how the second Trump administration plans to dismantle major parts of the federal bureaucracy."
"Perhaps the most important function of the shock-and-awe campaign of funding freeze and mass administrative leaves has been to put the rest of USAID's workforce on notice," Matthews wrote. "The USAID staff I spoke with were mostly unwilling to be quoted due to fear of retaliation, and all of them described an atmosphere of uncertainty, unease, and omnipresent fear that one could lose one's job at any moment."
"This is not an environment in which one can imagine an agency of any kind operating effectively," he added.
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Gaza Aid Survey Details Israel's 'Disregard of International Law'
"Without accountability and a commitment to protecting humanitarian operations, we risk repeating the same cycles of impunity and neglect," said one campaigner.
Jan 28, 2025
A survey published Tuesday of 35 organizations working in Gaza found that Israel has failed to improve access to lifesaving humanitarian aid in the embattled Palestinian enclave—despite three separate orders from the International Court of Justice to do so over the past year.
The first of those ICJ directives, issued on January 26, 2024, ordered Israel to prevent genocidal acts in Gaza and provide basic services and humanitarian assistance to its approximately 2.3 million people. The overwhelming majority of Gazans have been forcibly displaced—often multiple times—sickened, or starved, their suffering exacerbated by Israel's "complete siege." According to Gaza officials, Israel's 15-month assault has left around 170,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing.
"As the survey shows, Israel completely failed to improve humanitarian conditions."
Groups participating in the survey—including Oxfam, Islamic Relief, Médecins du Monde, ActionAid, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), and the Norwegian Refugee Council—found that Israel has "systematically denied and restricted aid, supplies, and services both into and within Gaza" since the ICJ's January 2024 order. This tracks with previous reporting from human rights groups warning that Israel has flouted all three ICJ directives, which were also issued in March and May.
Among the survey's findings:
- 89% of respondents said that Israeli actions regarding the provision of aid had worsened since the ICJ's ruling;
- 93% said the humanitarian situation for the people receiving their aid and services had deteriorated;
- 100% of surveyed agencies importing humanitarian supplies into Gaza said Israeli procedures for aid entry were either ineffective, had systematically impeded the humanitarian response, or were insufficient to meet the huge needs;
- 95% of agencies who imported aid supplies inside the Gaza Strip said they regularly encountered delays, some of them lasting two months or longer; and
- Agencies reported essential items like personal protective equipment (PPE), tarpaulins, winterization supplies, mobile kitchens, hygiene kits, food, and educational materials being denied due to the "dual use" procedure—because Israel deemed there was potential for them to be utilized for military use.
The survey results came a week into a fragile cease-fire between Hamas and Israel—which has already been accused of breaking the truce, including by killing civilians, a 5-year-old girl among them, and firing on medical workers.
"Given the volume of aid now entering Gaza, it is clear how much Israel has been obstructing the humanitarian response for the last 15 months," Oxfam policy lead Bushra Khalidi said in a statement. "As the survey shows, Israel completely failed to improve humanitarian conditions, in disregard of international law, while systematically preventing lifesaving aid from getting in."
"It is vital to assess past failures, even amid a cease-fire," Khalidi added. "Without accountability and a commitment to protecting humanitarian operations, we risk repeating the same cycles of impunity and neglect, leaving millions without hope of a better future."
The survey also coincides with hundreds of thousands of Gazans trying to return to their obliterated neighborhoods. Returning refugees report being blocked by both rubble and Israeli troops, who are sometimes using deadly force. More—but nowhere near enough—aid is finally reaching Gazans following the cease-fire.
"Now that aid is getting into Gaza, the next weeks will be critical but challenging, given the level of destruction Israel has rained down upon Gaza and its near-total decimation of the humanitarian infrastructure and operational capacity," Médecins du Monde president Dr. Jean-François Corty said on Tuesday.
The agencies that produced the survey are calling for continued and unimpeded access to humanitarian aid in Gaza, as well as for Israel to be held accountable for alleged war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The ICJ is currently weighing a South Africa-led genocide case against Israel. Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri.
"The international community must abide by its obligations under international law and ensure that the cease-fire becomes permanent, so Palestinians in Gaza have access to everything they need to survive without conditions and rebuild their lives equally as every human being deserves," AFSC Palestine/Israel country representative Hanady Muhiar stressed.
"Without meaningful accountability, the suffering will only deepen, and the path to justice and peace will remain blocked."
The communication and advocacy coordinator at ActionAid, Occupied Palestinian Territories, Riham Jafari, asserted that "it is essential that humanitarian access is not only immediate but sustained and unimpeded."
"The rights of Palestinians in Gaza must be protected from acts of genocide, and Israel must be held to account for its continued violations of international law," Jafari added. "Without meaningful accountability, the suffering will only deepen, and the path to justice and peace will remain blocked."
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