Live UpdateFrom the Liveblog of Monday, November 20, 2023

Jeff Merkley becomes first US senator to make unconditional call for ceasefire

By Jacob Magid 20 November 2023, 11:46 pm 4 Edit

Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief

US Sen. Jeff Merkley, (right), from Oregon, speaks to the media along with US Sen. Chris Van Hollen, center, D-Md., US Rep. David Cicilline, D-RI, and US Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., in front of the US Customs and Border Protection's Rio Grande Valley Sector's Centralized Processing Center in McAllen, Texas, June 17, 2018. (Joel Martinez/The Monitor via AP/ File)

Democrat Jeff Merkley from Oregon becomes the first US senator to make an unqualified call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

“I am calling for a ceasefire — a cessation of hostilities by both sides. 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 tweets.

Illinois’s Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin also called for a ceasefire earlier this month, but conditioned it on Hamas releasing all hostages, which even Israel says it would agree to.

Roughly 40 far-left members of the US House have also called for a ceasefire in recent weeks.

I am calling for a ceasefire—a cessation of hostilities by both sides. 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. https://t.co/aaUdEKhfgM

— Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) November 20, 2023