Twenty progressives in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday called on senior officials in President Joe Biden's administration to "suspend offensive weapons" to Israel over its destruction of the Gaza Strip, citing federal and international law.

“Failure to do so not only jeopardizes our leverage in ceasefire negotiations, it undermines our country’s national security and weakens America’s commitment to human rights as a cornerstone of our foreign policy,” the progressive lawmakers said in their letter.

Led by Reps. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) and Greg Kassar (D-Tex.), the chair of the incoming Congressional Progressive Caucus, the lawmakers began by thanking Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for their Nov. 13 letter threatening to cut off arms to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government if it did not significantly improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza.

“However, despite your administration’s acknowledgement that the Netanyahu government has not fully addressed U.S. concerns about Gaza and has failed to meet all of the conditions set forth in this letter, the State Department has decided not to take further action, including suspending offensive military assistance, to ensure full compliance,” the progressive Democrats said.

The lawmakers stressed that they believe “continuing to transfer offensive weapons to the Israeli government prolongs the suffering of the Palestinian people and jeopardizes our national security by sending a message to the world that the United States will selectively apply its laws, policies, and international law,” they continued. “Furthermore, failure to act would endanger Israeli lives by prolonging Netanyahu’s war, isolating Israel internationally, and creating further instability in the region.”

The new letter comes just five weeks before President Joe Biden leaves office, and follows another letter last week signed by 77 House Democrats — including Casar — that called for “a full assessment of Israel’s compliance with all relevant U.S. policies and laws, including National Security Memorandum 20 (NSM-20) and Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act.”

The letter goes further, explicitly urging the Biden administration to suspend offensive military transfers and warning that “failure to do so not only jeopardizes our leverage in ceasefire negotiations, it undermines our country’s national security and weakens America’s commitment to human rights as a cornerstone of our foreign policy.”

The 20 progressives concluded their letter by saying: “We remain committed to saving Palestinian and Israeli lives. That means doing everything we can to prioritize the release of the hostages, securing a permanent ceasefire, and moving toward long-term peace.”

In addition to Lee and Casar, Tuesday’s letter was signed by Democratic Reps. Jamal Bowman (New York), Cori Bush (Missouri), Joaquin Castro (Texas), Lloyd Doggett (Texas), Veronica Escobar (Texas), Jesus “Chuy” Garcia (Illinois), Al Green (Texas), Sarah Jacobs (California), Pramila Jayapal (Washington), Hank Johnson (Georgia), Jim McGovern (Massachusetts), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (New York), Ilhan Omar (Minnesota), Mark Pocan (Wisconsin), Ayanna Pressley (Massachusetts), Delia C. Ramirez (Illinois), Rashida Tlaib (Michigan), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (New Jersey).

It came on the same day that Palestinians and Palestinian-Americans filed a lawsuit accusing the State Department of creating “unique and insurmountable processes to evade the Leahy Law’s requirements to punish abusive Israeli units.” As of Tuesday, Israel’s brutal 14-month war on Gaza had killed at least 45,059 people and wounded 107,041, most of them women and children, according to local officials. Israel’s slaughter and starvation of Palestinian civilians has led to a genocide case at the International Court of Justice as well as arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court for Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Galant.