House of Representatives passes amendment to prevent State Department from citing Hamas casualty figures

The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday approved a amendmentpresented by the Democratic representative. Jared Moskowitzthe Foreign Appropriations, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Act of 2025 to prohibit the State Department from publishing casualty data provided by the Gaza Ministry of Health because it is controlled by the terrorist organization Hamas.

The amendment received 269 votes in favor, including 62 Democrats and 144 against.

Moskowitz argued that while the civilian deaths in Gaza are tragic, the State Department should not trust data provided by Hamas as a reliable source of information on the current number of victims.

The Florida Democratic representative said that “The Gaza Health Ministry is the Hamas Health MinistryHe added that the goal of the Palestinian terrorist group “is to sell propaganda to the American people, to sell propaganda to the world.” Hamas is not a credible source,” he stated.

The amendment was proposed because the President Joe Biden and administration officials used casualty figures provided by Hamas in various statements.

Democratic Representative. Rashida Tlaib, a regular critic of Israel, opposed the amendment in Congress, saying the measure represents a “denial of the genocide” She added: “There is so much anti-Palestinian racism in this room that my colleagues don’t even want to acknowledge that Palestinians exist. “

The bill must pass both the House and Senate and be signed by the president to become law.