- By Mayukh Debnath
- Wed, 15 Nov 2023 07:02 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
Israel-Hamas War: More than 400 US federal government employees, including White House political appointees, have written an open letter to US President Joe Biden demanding that he push for a ceasefire in Gaza, where a humanitarian crisis is currently unfolding due to the ongoing armed conflict between Israeli forces and Palestinian militant outfit Hamas. The fighting in Gaza has so far claimed more than 11,000 lives, as per Hamas-appointed officials of the Palestinian exclave.
The signatories of the letter said they were employed across 30 US government departments and agencies. "We represent a coalition of Biden-Harris Administration political appointees and civil servants, positioned across the domestic and foreign policy spheres, working in federal agencies, departments, independent agencies, and the White House," the letter, which was released on Tuesday, read.
"We call on President Biden to urgently demand a cease-fire; and to call for de-escalation of the current conflict by securing the immediate release of the Israeli hostages and arbitrarily detained Palestinians; the restoration of water, fuel, electricity and other basic services; and the passage of adequate humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip," it added.
The Biden administration has so far resisted calls to press Israel for a ceasefire, saying that a truce at this stage will only benefit Hamas. Israel has vowed to crush Hamas and free all the hostages abducted the latter's fighters during the October 7 rampage on Israeli territory. Washington has instead managed to convince Israel for daily humanitarian pauses in the fighting.
US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby has attributed the humanitarian pauses to Biden’s “personal leadership and diplomacy". The Hamas-run health ministry of Gaza has said that three babies, along with 29 other patients, have died at Al-Shifa, the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip, since Saturday, when the hospital's generator ran out of fuel.