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

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)
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.

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