102 Hostages, Including 6 Americans, Still Held in Captivity in Gaza
Read the Letter Here
Washington, DC – Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-08) and Congressman Dan Goldman (NY-10) today led 11 of their Jewish colleagues in a letter to President Biden urging his administration to redouble his ongoing efforts to facilitate a temporary ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. A temporary ceasefire agreement would include returning all of the hostages to their families, stopping the violence and pervasive suffering in Gaza as well as the continued rocket fire on Israel from Gaza, and provide for a massive surge in humanitarian aid.
“We cannot overstate the urgency of the hostages’ situation in Hamas’s captivity in Gaza, where they have been held for 139 days in dreadful conditions,” the members wrote. “Recently, we learned that 32 of the 134 remaining hostages are dead. Every day that the remaining living hostages are left to suffer in the tunnels in Gaza without medical attention increases the chances that more will die. The hostages and their families simply cannot wait any longer.”
“Likewise, the situation for the civilian population in Gaza is dire and desperate. At least 1.4 million displaced Palestinians in Gaza cannot wait any longer for access to additional humanitarian aid to alleviate widespread hunger, homelessness, and the continuing spread of dangerous diseases such as cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, bronchitis and pneumonia,” the members continued.
Additionally, the members expressed a desire for peace in the region that includes the neutralization of Hamas and a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinian territories.
The letter was also signed by Representatives Balint (VT-AL), Bonamici (OR-01), Cohen (TN-09), Landsman (OH-01), Magaziner (RI-02), Nadler (NY-12), Phillips (MN-03), Schrier (WA-08), Sherman (CA-32), Slotkin (MI-07), and Wild (PA-07).
Read the letter here or below:
Dear President Biden:
We write to reaffirm the need for your strong leadership in the aftermath of the horrific terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7 and the subsequent devastating violence in the Gaza Strip. As negotiations between Israel and Hamas continue, we urge you to exhaust every effort to facilitate a mutual, temporary ceasefire agreement between them that provides for, among other things, the immediate return of all of the 134 hostages, including six Americans who have been languishing in captivity for months.
We cannot overstate the urgency of the hostages’ situation in Hamas’s captivity in Gaza, where they have been held for 139 days in dreadful conditions. Recently, we learned that 32 of the 134 remaining hostages are dead. Every day that the remaining living hostages are left to suffer in the tunnels in Gaza without medical attention increases the chances that more will die. The hostages and their families simply cannot wait any longer.
Likewise, the situation for the civilian population in Gaza is dire and desperate. At least 1.4 million displaced Palestinians in Gaza cannot wait any longer for access to additional humanitarian aid to alleviate widespread hunger, homelessness, and the continuing spread of dangerous diseases such as cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, bronchitis and pneumonia.
We therefore encourage you to redouble your efforts at this critical juncture to facilitate a mutual, temporary ceasefire agreement that will: return all of the hostages to their families; stop the violence in Gaza and rocket fire on Israel from Gaza; and end the tremendous civilian suffering in Gaza by enabling a massive surge in humanitarian aid. After that occurs, we can turn our focus forward to working with you and our allies to promote enduring peace in the Middle East through the neutralization of Hamas and the creation of a long sought-after two-state solution so that every innocent person in the region, no matter their religious or ethnic background, can live under democratic rule, with freedom, self-determination and opportunity.
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