S. 3634 — AWARE Act of 2026

This section establishes the short title of the Act as the “Accountability for Withholding Aid and Relief Essentials Act of 2026” (or the “AWARE Act of 2026”) and sets forth the table of contents.

This section states 22 congressional findings documenting restrictions on humanitarian aid to Gaza by the Government of Israel under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, including (1) fewer than 17,000 trucks of aid entering Gaza from May 19, 2025, through January 7, 2026 (versus a required minimum of 500-600 truckloads per day to prevent starvation); (2) acute hunger affecting Gaza's estimated 2.2 million residents, with over 20,000 children suffering acute malnutrition since January 2025; (3) over 1,000 Palestinians killed seeking food during the Netanyahu administration, including over 800 at or near Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution sites; (4) nearly $50 million in essential goods stockpiled at crossings as of October 23, 2025, despite a ceasefire on October 10, 2025; and (5) continued operations planned by private firms Safe Reach Solutions and UG Solutions post-suspension of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

This section states the sense of Congress that Israel has the right to self-defense, Hamas must be condemned for its terrorist attacks and hostage-taking, and Iran must be opposed for supporting terrorism including Hamas; the Netanyahu administration must be condemned for blocking Gaza borders to humanitarian aid in 2025, exacerbating the crisis among civilians, and violating human rights; and the President, Secretary of State, and other agency heads must use diplomatic tools to maintain the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and hostage release agreement of October 10, 2025, surge aid to Gaza civilians, and implement its 20-point plan for regional peace.

This section establishes the policy of the United States that (1) protected persons are entitled at all times to sufficient humanitarian assistance; (2) if a government is unable or unwilling to ensure delivery and distribution of sufficient humanitarian assistance to a territory under its control, that government must allow any and all United States and internationally recognized humanitarian organizations to deliver and distribute such assistance to protected persons in that territory; and (3) covered persons acting on behalf of such a government who restrict, diminish, undermine, or prevent such delivery and distribution violate this policy.

This section requires the President to submit to the appropriate congressional committees and leadership, not later than 90 days after enactment and annually thereafter, a report that (1) lists all covered persons determined to be in violation of the policy described in section 4; (2) for each such person, provides a justification for inclusion (including supporting information), identifies any sanctions under section 6 imposed or to be imposed within 30 days, or—if no sanctions are imposed or planned within 30 days—specifies the waiver authority and justifies the decision; (3) if few or no persons were added in the preceding year, describes the reasons (as prepared jointly by the Secretary of the Treasury and Secretary of State); and (4) describes executive branch efforts to encourage other countries to impose similar sanctions (as prepared jointly by those Secretaries). The report must be unclassified except that names may appear in a classified annex if vital to U.S. national security (with prior 15-day notice and justification to Congress), and the unclassified portion must be posted on a public federal website within 30 days of submission.

This section requires the President to impose diplomatic sanctions—inadmissibility to the United States, visa ineligibility, and revocation of visas or entry documentation (effective immediately and automatically canceling other such documents)—and financial sanctions blocking all property and interests in property within U.S. jurisdiction under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) on each covered person listed pursuant to section 5(a)(1). Diplomatic sanctions include limited exceptions if necessary to comply with international obligations (e.g., Vienna Conventions or UN Headquarters Agreement), restricted to the minimum scope and duration required. Financial sanctions include exceptions if vital to U.S. national security or for transactions facilitating humanitarian assistance to protected persons, and do not apply to the importation of goods. This section subjects violations of property blocking requirements to IEEPA civil penalties not to exceed the greater of $250,000 or twice the amount of the underlying transaction and criminal penalties of up to a $1,000,000 fine and, if a natural person, up to 20 years imprisonment (50 U.S.C. 1705(b)-(c)); requires U.S. financial institutions to certify blocking of such property to the Secretary of the Treasury within 120 days of enactment; and authorizes the Secretary to issue necessary regulations, licenses, and orders.

This section authorizes the President to waive, in part or in whole, sanctions under this Act with respect to a covered person for renewable periods not to exceed 180 days each if the President (1) determines the waiver is in the national security interests of the United States, (2) submits a report to the appropriate congressional committees and leadership describing the waiver or renewal and the reasons for it, and (3) a joint resolution of disapproval is not enacted pursuant to section 9. For each waiver, the President must limit its duration and scope to the minimum required to serve those interests and, upon expiration, determine whether the covered person still meets the criteria for inclusion on the sanctions list required by section 5(a)(1). If the person still meets those criteria, the President must impose sanctions under section 6; if not, the President must notify Congress pursuant to sections 8 and 9 of the intent to terminate sanctions with respect to the person and resume annual determinations of list inclusion.

This section authorizes the President to terminate sanctions under the Act with respect to a covered person if the President determines that (1) credible information shows the person never met, or no longer meets, the criteria for inclusion on the list required by section 5(a)(1) and has committed not to engage in such activity in the future; or (2) termination is in the U.S. national security interests; submits a report to the appropriate congressional committees and leadership describing the request and reasons; and a joint resolution of disapproval under section 9 is not enacted. Proprietary information in such reports may be included only with confidentiality assurances or the covered person's written consent. This section further authorizes the President to terminate all sanctions under the Act with respect to a country if the President determines no covered persons in that country meet the section 5(a)(1) criteria, submits a report to the appropriate congressional committees and leadership describing the request and reasons, and a joint resolution of disapproval under section 9 is not enacted.

This section establishes congressional oversight procedures for presidential determinations and actions under the Act. Specifically, it requires the President, within 60 days of a request from the chairman and ranking member of an appropriate congressional committee, to determine whether a covered person meets the criteria for inclusion on the sanctions list required by section 5(a)(1) and to submit an unclassified report (with possible classified annex) stating whether sanctions are imposed or intended; requires the President, before waiving (under section 7) or terminating (under section 8) sanctions, to submit a report to congressional committees and leadership describing the proposed action and reasons; and imposes a 30-calendar-day congressional review period (60 calendar days for reports submitted on or after July 10 and on or before September 7) during which the President may not take the action absent enactment of a joint resolution of approval, with additional delays if a joint resolution of disapproval passes both Houses (12 calendar days post-passage) or is vetoed (10 calendar days post-veto), and a permanent bar if enacted. It further defines joint resolutions of approval or disapproval by title and content—specifying the reports under sections 7 or 8, submission dates, and short descriptions of proposed actions—and authorizes their introduction in the Senate by the majority leader (or designee) and in the House by the Majority Leader (or designee) during the review period.

This section provides a severability clause, stating that if any provision of the Act or its application to any person or circumstance is held unconstitutional, the remainder of the Act and its application to other persons or circumstances is not affected.

This section defines 10 terms for purposes of the Act, including (1) appropriate congressional committees (i.e., the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs); (2) appropriate congressional committees and leadership (i.e., those committees plus Senate majority and minority leaders and House Speaker, majority leader, and minority leader); (3) covered person (i.e., certain high-ranking foreign government officials such as heads of state, cabinet members, senior military officers at lieutenant colonel rank or higher, and persons or entities complicit in restricting humanitarian assistance to protected persons, including those blocked under the Act's sanctions); (4) foreign person (i.e., any individual or entity that is not a U.S. person); (5) humanitarian assistance (i.e., food, water, shelter, health services, medicines, hygiene products, clothing, essential services, and basic items such as fuel); (6) protected person (i.e., a civilian noncombatant who takes no part in hostilities and provides no support to a U.S.-recognized terrorist or insurgent organization); (7) United States and internationally recognized humanitarian organization (i.e., organizations recognized by the UN and U.S. government or complying with standards such as Sphere humanitarian standards); (8) United States person; (9) United States recognized terrorist or insurgent organization (i.e., a foreign terrorist organization designated under 8 U.S.C. 1189); and (10) Vienna Conventions.