Axios reported that a group of 88 Democratic members of the House of Representatives urged President Joe Biden to consider halting arms sales to Israel due to concerns about continued restrictions on the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

The website said that the importance of this move comes at a time when pro-Palestinian protests have increasingly rocked college campuses across the country, raising concerns among many Democrats.

Lawmakers led by Jason Crow (D-Colorado) and Chris Dello Zio (D-Pennsylvania) cited a memorandum signed by Biden last February demanding that Israel provide guarantees on preserving human rights in Gaza.

The letter's signatories asked the Democratic president to clearly assure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that any obstacle to getting aid into Gaza "jeopardizes his ability to obtain more offensive security assistance from the United States."

The group wrote in a letter to Biden delivered to the White House that they strongly support Israel's "right to self-defense" but said there is "sufficient evidence" that it violates the federal law on which the memo is based.

The lawmakers said the State Department should consider "a variety of tools" to force Israel to comply, "from updating safeguards to blocking the transfer of certain weapons."

The letter calls for increased humanitarian aid from a pro-Israel perspective, arguing that the Gaza famine “harms Israel’s security interests, both in the immediate and long term.”

This letter comes after another submitted by 57 Democratic members of the House of Representatives - earlier this month - urging the president to preemptively withhold any aid that could be used in the attack on the city of Rafah in southern Gaza.

Pointing to the growing pro-Palestinian protest movement in the United States and abroad, the lawmakers concluded that “letting famine stifle Gaza is already severely damaging to the Israeli government’s international standing and prospects for peace.”

As the US presidential elections approach next November, Biden faces severe criticism for his unconditional support for Israel.

Source: Axios + Sama News