US govt employees plan 'day of fasting' to protest Biden's Gaza policy

US government employees have planned a "day of fasting for Gaza" this week on Thursday to draw attention to the humanitarian crisis in the besieged Palestinian enclave, The Guardian reported.

The initiative, organised by Representatives for Feds United for Peace — a group comprising several dozen government employees — is a direct response to President Joe Biden's policy towards Israel, the British newspaper said.

A federal employee speaking on behalf of the group told The Guardian that the Day of Fasting is a response to Israel's use of "starvation as a weapon of war by intentionally withholding food from entering Gaza."

As per UN estimates, up to 2 million people in the besieged Palestinian enclave are at risk of famine.

Participating federal employees are expected to show up to their offices dressed in black or wearing keffiyeh scarves or other symbols of Palestinian solidarity.

The group says its members represent more than two dozen agencies, among them the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security and State, and include career public servants and political appointees.

Representatives for Feds United for Peace had staged an office walkout in solidarity with Palestinians earlier in the month as well.

Despite a provisional ruling last week by the ICJ that ordered Tel Aviv to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza, Israel has continued its onslaught on the coastal enclave.

According to Palestinian authorities, at least 26,751 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and 65,636 others injured since October 7.

The Israeli offensive has left 85 percent of Gaza's population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, the UN said, while 60 percent of the enclave's infrastructure stood damaged or destroyed.