US lawmakers urge Trump team to free American student held by Israel

More than 40 members of the United States Congress have penned a letter to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio calling on him to push for the release of Sama Safi, a 20-year-old US citizen who has been detained by the Israeli military since June.

The legislators warned on Tuesday that the Palestinian American student’s health is deteriorating “under appalling conditions” in Israeli custody.

“Every day that Sama remains wrongfully detained in these inhumane conditions, she is at greater risk of irreversible and life-threatening repercussions,” the lawmakers, led by Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib , wrote to Rubio.

“Her life is at risk on your watch. We urge you to act swiftly and use every tool at your disposal to secure the immediate release of Sama Safi so that she can receive the medical care she urgently needs and return to her family, her studies, and the life and freedom that every 20-year-old deserves.”

Six US senators – including Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Chris Van Hollen – signed on to the letter alongside dozens of members of the House of Representatives.

Israeli forces abducted Safi, who was attending Birzeit University, from her home in the occupied West Bank in a predawn raid nearly three months ago, and they have been holding her without charge.

Safi was one of four young women who were detained as part of an Israeli crackdown on anti-occupation activism in June.

Israel has received about $25bn in US military aid since the start of the genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023.