Rocket barrage on Jerusalem sends lawmakers scrambling for shelter

News Desk - The Cradle 

A group of US senators is in Tel Aviv to show support for sending more US weapons to Israel as the bombardment of Gaza continues

Hamas fired a major rocket barrage toward occupied-Jerusalem on 16 October, which stopped a Knesset session and sent its members to bomb shelters, The Times of Israel reported.

The armed wing of Hamas, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said on Monday it fired a “barrage of missiles” on Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in response to Israel’s “targeting of civilians.”

On Sunday, a bipartisan group of US senators was forced into a bomb shelter in a Tel Aviv hotel following another Hamas missile barrage.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who led the group, said “We experienced what Israelis experience every day,” stated in a press conference.

“The United States stands beside you as an unrelenting partner.”

“It shows you what Israelis have to go through. We must provide Israel with the support required to defend itself,” Schumer said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

The bipartisan group also met with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Minister Benny Gantz, President Isaac Herzog and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid.

Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the US, traveled with the other senators to Tel Aviv to show support for Israel. 

He said that the Republican and Democratic senators will lead efforts in the Senate to continue supplying Israel with weapons as its bombardment of civilians in Gaza continues.

US President Joe Biden is expected to ask Congress to approve wartime funding for Israel as well as Ukraine.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday that the new weapons package for Israel and Ukraine will exceed $2 billion.

Schumer acknowledged that “it’s difficult, we know it’s difficult to minimize civilian casualties.”

Since beginning its bombing campaign in Gaza a week ago, Israel has killed at least 2,329 Palestinians, including 614 children, 370 women, and wounded over 9,042.

Utah Senator Mitt Romney said that Palestinian civilians will be injured and killed as the war continues, but claimed it is “because of Hamas, not because of Israel.”

“Hamas is holding their own population as human shields,” he said. “They’re using Palestinians to protect their own lives.”

However, previous conflicts between Hamas and Israel show Hamas does not use human shields.

According to Schumer, the Israelis stressed the importance of sending over precision-guided bombs, Iron Dome interceptors, 155-mm mortar shells, JDAM guidance kits and intelligence support.

The US has already dispatched two planes of military aid and has also sent two aircraft carrier groups to the region to deter Iran and Hezbollah from attacking Israel as it fights Hamas.