Reps Goldman, Raskin urge temporary ceasefire, call for release of all hostages

Congressmembers Dan Goldman and Jamie Raskin on Feb. 22 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 — including six Americans — to their families, stopping the continued rocket fire on Israel from Gaza, and provide for a massive surge in humanitarian aid, Goldman and Raskin said.

Goldman represents Manhattan south of 14th Street and part of Brooklyn. Raskin represents part of Maryland.

“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 congressmembers 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,” the representatives continued. “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.”

Additionally, the members expressed a desire for peace in the region, including the neutralization of Hamas and a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinian territories.

The letter was also signed by Congressmember Jerrold Nadler, who represents Manhattan from 14th Street to the Upper West Side and Upper East Side.

The letter to President Biden concludes by saying that, if a ceasefire is achieved, “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.”