Jeff Merkley becomes second US senator to call for ceasefire

Jeff Merkley has become the second US senator to call for a ceasefire to the Israel-Palestine war after saying Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip had resulted in “mass carnage.”

“I am calling for a ceasefire—a cessation of hostilities by both sides," Merkely, a Democratic senator from Oregon said in a statement Monday.

"To endure, the ceasefire and the following negotiations must accomplish other essential objectives, including the release of all hostages and a massive influx of humanitarian aid."

Merkley said that while he defended Israel’s right to attack Hamas, he was ‘deeply disturbed’ by the way Israel had responded to the 7 October attack, which he said had inflicted a “shocking level of civilian carnage rather than a targeted campaign against Hamas.”

“Israel has unleashed a bombing campaign on Gaza of phenomenal ferocity. Israel defends this campaign as necessary to strike Hamas wherever necessary. But the impression the world has been left with is one of indiscriminate bombing,” he said.

At the same time, Merkley called on Hamas to surrender its weapons and immediately release all hostages. He reaffirmed the Biden administration’s demand that Hamas no longer control the Gaza Strip, but didn't say how the group would be convinced to give up governing the besieged enclave. 

Dick Durbin, a senior Democratic senator from Illinois, has also called for a ceasefire, along with 40 members of the House of Representatives.