cessation of hostilities
Gaza Death Toll Continues to Rise as US Refuses Global Call for Cease-Fire
Thousands of Americans are expected to march in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, demanding the Biden administration join the call for peace.
In just 27 days, the Israel Defense Forces have killed at least 9,227 Palestinians in Gaza as of Friday, and the death toll is expected to continue rising absent calls from the U.S. government and other Western countries for a cease-fire.
While continuing to claim it is targeting Hamas fighters in Gaza, Israel attacked an ambulance convoy near al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City late Friday, killing at least 13 people and injuring dozens of others.
Israel claimed that "a Hamas terrorist cell" was using one of the ambulances. Dr. Mohammad Abu Salmiya, the head of the hospital, toldThe New York Times that the convoy had been preparing to take people wounded by Israel's repeated airstrikes to Egypt for treatment.
Like the rest of Gaza's health system, al-Shifa Hospital is running low on supplies and medications following Israel's total blockade of the enclave last month, cutting off access to fuel, electricity, food, and water—putting civilians at risk of infections and disease as well as Israel's bombardment and ground attacks.
Ashraf al-Qudra, spokesperson for the Gaza Health Ministry, told Al Jazeera that the attack was "a massacre against more victims, civilians, and wounded people" and called on the international community to "stop those massacres that are committed against our people and our paramedics and our injured and our victims."
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, demanded an immediate cease-fire and said he was "utterly shocked" by the targeting of ambulances.
While international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Oxfam, Jewish-led groups including IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, and U.S.-based humanitarian groups such as the Carter Center have joined the call for a cease-fire, the Biden administration so far has called only for a "humanitarian pause" in the fighting.
The administration has requested $14.3 billion in aid for Israel and has already committed to sending weapons for the IDF to use in Gaza.
Led largely by IfNotNow and JVP, thousands of Americans in recent days have risked arrest as they've gathered in public settings including New York's Grand Central Station and Phildelphia's 30th Street Station to demand a cease-fire.
On Friday, advocates assembled in the offices of Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), and others, carrying signs that read, "Stop Arming Israel" and "Cease-Fire Now."
On Saturday, thousands of people are expected to march in Washington, D.C. demanding the same.
Several senators called for a "cessation of hostilities" on Thursday, while Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) became the first senator to call for a cease-fire.
On Thursday, CNNreported that some close advisers to Biden believe "rebuffing the pressure on the U.S. government to publicly call for a cease-fire" may become "untenable" in a matter of "weeks, not months."
"'Weeks' means thousands of Palestinian children who are alive now will be dead," said political analyst Omar Baddar, urging Americans who support a cease-fire—two-thirds of the population, according to one poll—to ramp up the pressure.
"This needs to stop NOW!" said Baddar. "You need to call your members of Congress and the White House NOW!"
Amid Public Outcry Over Gaza Carnage, 13 Senators Call for 'Cessation of Hostilities'
"Keep up the pressure, friends," said one peace advocate. "It's working."
As mass protests and polling demonstrate the wide gap between the United States government's support for Israel's massacre of civilians in Gaza and the public's views on the Israel-Hamas War, with thousands of Palestinian rights supporters demanding a cease-fire, 13 Democratic senators appeared to be swayed by the public pressure late Thursday when they called for a "cessation of hostilities."
The call was led by U.S. Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.), with Sens. 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.) joining.
As the Biden administration called for humanitarian "pauses" to "get aid in, get people out," but resisted demands for a cease-fire, the senators suggested their statement was prompted by Israel's "failure to adequately protect noncombatant civilians" and ensure humanitarian aid can be distributed as it pummels the blockaded Gaza Strip with airstrikes funded by the U.S. and other Western countries.
The killing of at least 9,227 Palestinians—including at least 3,760 children—while Israel has claimed to be targeting Hamas and justifying civilian deaths by saying the group is using Gaza residents as "human shields," said the senators, "risks dramatic escalation of the conflict in the region and imposes severe damage on prospects for peaceful coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians."
"Based on the consensus opinion of U.S. and international aid officials, it is nearly impossible to deliver sufficient humanitarian aid to protect civilian life under current conditions," they added. "Thus, we join President Biden in his call for a short-term cessation of hostilities that pose high-risk to civilians, aid workers, or humanitarian aid delivery in Gaza."
The cessation in fighting would allow delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, where Israel cut off civilians' access to fuel, electricity, food, and water after Hamas' attack on southern Israel on October 7. It would also provide an "increased focus on the release of all hostages kidnapped" by Hamas and "opportunity for broader discussion amongst Israeli and Palestinian leadership, together with regional and global partners, about long-term strategies to reduce decadeslong conflict in the region."
The senators said Israel must meet its obligations under international law to "minimize harm to civilians."
While members of the U.S. Senate have not joined calls for a cease-fire—a negotiated, binding agreement to cease hostilities—progressive U.S. House members including Reps. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) have been making that demand since mid-October.
Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), and Susan Wild (D-Pa.) have also demanded a cessation of hostilities, which can be nonbinding and provisional.
Earlier this week, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) spoke on the Senate floor about the need for a "humanitarian pause," frustrating some advocates who have demanded that the vocal anti-war lawmaker join calls for a cease-fire.
Author Steven Thrasher noted that in an interview on CNN Thursday, Durbin was asked if a cease-fire is needed now to protect civilian lives.
"I think it is," said the senator, adding that it could allow for the release of Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7—an offer Hamas made last week in exchange for Israel's agreement to a cease-fire.
"Keep up the pressure, friends," said Thrasher. "It's working. Consider no politician a lost cause."