More than 500 employees and staffers in the Biden government have signed a letter calling for President Joe Biden to push a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
The open letter’s signatories came from both senior and low-level positions across the departments of Commerce, Defense, Interior, Homeland Security, and the Executive Office of the President.
“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 begins, according to the New York Times.
“We call on President Biden to urgently demand a ceasefire; 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.”
Two of the administration staff members who led the efforts for the letter are political appointees, NBC News reported.
The letter follows global demands for a ceasefire.
Earlier this month, the United Nations General Assembly voted against a resolution that would have condemned violence against Israeli civilians by Hamas.
The assembly instead passed a draft resolution that called for an immediate ceasefire without explicitly condemning Hamas.
According to the U.N.’s press release, Riyad Mansour, the Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine, said, “We will focus on the unequivocal message this august Assembly has sent to our people that the overwhelming majority of the people of the world stand with you, stand with the people in the Gaza Strip.”
“They bear witness to your suffering,” Mansour stated. “They feel your pain. And they have not forgotten you and will not forsake you.”
