Washington DC - Protesters on Tuesday disrupted Secretary of State Marco Rubio's congressional testimony on the proposed 2026 State Department budget in solidarity with the besieged and starving people of Gaza.

"Rubio, end the genocide! End the starvation!" Ahmed El-Masry, an activist and volunteer with the feminist antiwar organization CODEPINK, shouted during the Trump administration official's testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee.

El-Masry was escorted out of the room and arrested by Capitol Police. "I'm not resisting," he can be heard telling the officers in video shared by CODEPINK.

The disruptions came as the United Nations warned Tuesday that 14,000 babies in Gaza could die in 48 hours if Israel did not stop blocking the entry of most humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territory.

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"I am sick and tired of waking up every day and seeing babies and children being killed with our tax money," El-Masry said in a press release after the intervention. "Our government has forced us to be complicit in this slaughter."

"Marco Rubio has the power to end this genocide – we need an arms embargo now to stop the starvation, stop the bombing, and Free Palestine."

Earlier on Tuesday, Rubio faced a similar disruption during his testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Episcopal Reverend David Funkhouser (79), Quaker grandmother Jean Warrington (75), and Puerto Rico resident and peace activist Kathy Gannett (74) were arrested for speaking out against continued US support for Israel's indiscriminate slaughter of Palestinians.

Footage on social media shows the activists successively shouting messages like "Stop the genocide!" and "No weapons to Israel!" before getting dragged from the room.

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"Stop it, I cannot live in peace. I will not be silent while there is a genocide going on! Hundreds are dying every day. Hundreds! I won't be silent," Gannett says in the video as she is pulled away by police officers.

"I'm against killing. Pope Leo has been in solidarity with the Palestinians," Reverend Funkhouser says.

Rubio, who is Catholic, on Sunday attended the inaugural mass of Pope Leo XIV, who received the secretary of state along with Vice President JD Vance for private audience at the Vatican the following day. The Chicago-born pontiff has called for a ceasefire and the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

In face of overwhelming violence and suffering in Palestine, Rubio has been at the forefront of efforts to suppress Gaza solidarity activism in the US. He boasted during his Senate testimony about revoking student visas and arresting noncitizens taking a stand for justice.