A growing group of Democrats in the US Congress are warning that Israel's brutal bombing in its war on Gaza seeking to destroy Hamas is becoming more difficult to justify - eroding support for Tel Aviv on Capitol Hill.

Lawmakers were quick from the beginning to support Israel's right to defend itself, especially after the Hamas attacks on October 7 that killed more than 1,000 people and took hundreds of others hostage.

But the four-month-old Israeli war on Gaza has killed more than 27,000 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to Gaza Health Ministry officials and the United Nations.

A report by the website specialized in congressional matters on Sunday stated, “The increasing number of civilian casualties - coupled with growing allegations that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has done little to reduce harm to civilians - is sparking new dissatisfaction in Washington with Israeli military tactics, while calls are mounting for an immediate halt of fire, even temporarily, to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid."

The website quotes Representative Bennie Thompson (from Mississippi) as saying: “Many of the people I spoke to have real concerns about what is happening in Israel and Gaza, and their conversations with me recently were that we need some ceasefire, and some assessments have concluded "The killing must stop."

He continued: “Just because a group did something (Hamas on October 7) at some point does not mean that you can go ahead and eliminate many innocent people, excessively, who have nothing to do with this matter... People feel that “The matter (Israeli bombing) is excessive and exaggerated, and you cannot continue with this amount of widespread killing that targets children and women, who have nothing to do with the situation.”

Concerns are rising as Congress prepares to consider a package of national security proposals that combine tougher immigration policies on the US-Mexico border with billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine and Israel.

The fate of the legislation is already in doubt due to strong opposition from House conservatives to both Ukraine-specific funding and domestic border provisions. But the path becomes more difficult if liberal Democrats begin to back down over fears that Israeli aid will be used to indiscriminately kill Palestinian civilians.

Senator Bernie Sanders (independent from Vermont) led a campaign against at least some of the funds allocated to Israel, accusing Washington of inciting the killing of civilians in Gaza. He is drafting an amendment to the national security package that would keep funding for Israel's defensive weapons systems, but cut $10.1 billion in funding for what his office describes as "the offensive weapons of Netanyahu's right-wing government."

“This (the indiscriminate bombing of Gaza) is not just an imaginary horror show taking place in some far-flung corner of the world,” Sanders said on Wednesday on the Dean Obeidallah program (of Palestinian origin). “It is being done with direct American military assistance.”

For many years, Democrats have repeatedly criticized the right-wing Netanyahu, but this scrutiny has intensified since his last victory in 2022, when he joined several far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties, formed the most extreme ruling coalition in Israel’s history and formed a government that included chauvinist nationalist agitators, to promote anti-Arab sentiments, such as Ben Gvir, Sometrich, and others.

At least two of those ministers joined a recent demonstration by Jewish settlers demanding Jewish control of Gaza – a position that Netanyahu officially opposed.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a Jewish Democrat who has fought for the return of hostages and humanitarian aid for Gaza, said he is concerned that the extremist views of these coalition ministers have already eroded American support for Israel — at home and abroad.

Raskin said: “Many of the statements and actions of the right-wingers in Netanyahu’s war government greatly undermine Netanyahu’s reputation and status in the United States and in Congress,” noting that the extremists in Netanyahu’s government “held a conference last week about removing the Palestinians from Gaza, and then restoring settlement to Gaza.”

“This becomes a very serious political problem here, if this is the rhetoric of people in Netanyahu’s government,” Raskin warned.

Debate over US policy in the Middle East has long divided Democrats, but those differences have become more pronounced since the Hamas attack on October 7, pitting Israel's staunchest defenders against liberal lawmakers who have sharply criticized Netanyahu's retaliation in Gaza, some accused Israel of committing genocide.

Republicans, on the other hand, are more united on this issue. Most of them strongly support the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, which “they see as necessary to eliminate the threat posed by Hamas forever,” according to the experts. “Some believe that Hamas’ regional popularity means that all Palestinians in Gaza are complicit in terrorism,” according to the site.

“These are not innocent Palestinian civilians, including infants,” Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) told peace activists at the Capitol last week, who served in the Israeli occupation army.

This issue has become a huge headache for US President Joe Biden as he seeks re-election this year, as Muslim voters, who flocked to Biden in the 2020 elections, are angry at the president’s refusal to call for a ceasefire. Many of these critics have pledged to withhold their support on November 5 of this year, a threat that could have great significance in several so-called battleground states such as Michigan, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania.

Biden visited Michigan last week to shore up support with union workers and other friendly constituencies. But he also faced protesters angry at his continued support for Israel, some of whom accused him of killing children.

Biden has taken a number of steps to try to ease those tensions.

He has sent his senior government officials to the Middle East in an attempt to build regional support for the release of the hostages and reach a ceasefire agreement. He has pushed Netanyahu to work toward the creation of a Palestinian state when the conflict in Gaza subsides — a move the Israeli leader has repeatedly rejected. On Thursday, he issued an executive order imposing sanctions on Israeli settlers accused of carrying out violent attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.

As part of this ongoing campaign, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken traveled this week to a number of Middle Eastern countries, where he will press for a two-month ceasefire and the release of all remaining hostages.

As sensitive talks continue, and innocent casualties pile up, Democrats have become more vocal in their protests that civilian casualties are too many and that the war must stop.