Support for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’s resolutions that would block U.S. arms sales to Israel continued to grow on Monday, with Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen issuing a letter to his colleagues urging them to join him in trying to pass the measures later this week.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) — backed by Sens. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) — introduced “joint resolutions of disapproval” (JRDs) last September, and announced last week that he would bring them to the floor for a vote.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) supported the joint resolutions of disapproval last week, citing the Biden administration’s failure “to follow U.S. law and suspend arms shipments” after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government warned last month that U.S. arms could be cut off without serious action to improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza.

Sen. Van Hollen followed suit on Monday, releasing his letter and saying in a statement that “American taxpayer-funded aid should not come in the form of a blank check – even to our closest partners. We need assurances that American interests, values, and priorities will be respected by foreign governments that receive American support. This principle should apply to everyone, including the Netanyahu government.”

“But even as the United States provides billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded bombs and other offensive weapons systems, we have seen Prime Minister Netanyahu repeatedly violate the terms of U.S. security assistance, ignore U.S. priorities, and ignore our requests, only to be rewarded by President Biden,” he continued. “This pattern undermines U.S. credibility and must not continue.”

Van Hollen noted that he has “repeatedly supported Israel’s right to defend itself and end Hamas’s control of Gaza” since the Palestinian movement’s October 7, 2023, attack — including his vote on an aid package in April — but also claimed that “a just war must be waged justly.”

“That’s why recipients of U.S. weapons must comply with U.S. laws and policies. Recipients of security assistance must facilitate, not restrict, the delivery of humanitarian assistance to war zones where U.S. weapons are used, and U.S.-supplied weapons must be used in accordance with international humanitarian law. The Netanyahu government is violating both of these requirements in Gaza,” he explained. “It also rejects a host of other priorities the United States has put forward, and yet President Biden has failed to hold Netanyahu accountable—ignoring U.S. law and undermining his stated policies as well as America’s interests and values.”

“Doing so undermines American global leadership and is a disservice to the American people, the people of Israel, and the people of the Middle East,” the Maryland senator warned. “That is why I have repeatedly stated that the United States must stop delivering offensive weapons to the Netanyahu government until it complies with U.S. law and policy and so that we can advance the security interests, priorities, and values of the American people.”

While he stressed his support for “transferring defensive systems, such as Iron Dome,” and his opposition to the arms embargo, which many human rights groups have called for, Van Hollen concluded that he would vote for the JRDs this week because “partnership should be a two-way street, not a one-way blank check.”

The bills must pass through the Democratic-controlled Senate and Republican-controlled House of Representatives to reach Biden’s desk. They would require a two-thirds majority in both chambers to override a presidential veto. The push to pass comes as lawmakers prepare for Republican control of Congress and the White House next year after the elections earlier this month.

“The United States government must stop blatantly violating the law with regard to arms sales to Israel,” Sanders wrote in the Washington Post on Monday. “The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and the Arms Export Control Act are very clear: The United States cannot provide arms to any country that violates internationally recognized human rights. Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act is also explicit: No U.S. assistance may be provided to any country that ‘directly or indirectly prohibits or restricts the transfer or delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance.’”

The resolutions are also supported by more than 100 organizations, including the Center for Civilians in Conflict and the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), which led a letter to senators last month.

For his part, Hassan Eltayeb, legislative director for Middle East policy, described the upcoming vote as “historic,” telling Al Jazeera on Monday: “The fact that this is happening really sends a political signal that this is not what it was before.”

"There is no military solution to the conflict in Gaza - only a diplomatic solution that addresses the root causes of the violence," Tayeb told Al Jazeera, as the death toll in the Palestinian enclave approached 44,000.

“Instead of sending more weapons, Congress and the administration should leverage military aid with Netanyahu and the Knesset to finally get them to accept a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon. I think that is a much better strategy for securing Israel’s defense and protecting Palestinian human rights,” he added.