A group of 13 Democratic U.S. Senators have joined calls for a “short-term cessation of hostilities” between the Israeli military and Hamas, citing concerns about the risk this fighting poses to civilians in Gaza.
On Thursday, Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) signed onto a joint statement calling for this temporary pause in the fighting. Their calls for this pause come nearly a month after Hamas gunmen breached the Israel–Gaza barrier on Oct. 7 before killing hundreds of people in southern Israel and taking more than 200 people back to Gaza as hostages.
