There is a "dire humanitarian crisis" in the Gaza Strip, where thousands of innocent people are on the brink, US Senator Bernie Sanders said.
"The humanitarian crisis is dire and getting worse by the minute. There must be a humanitarian pause now so that sufficient supplies-food, water, medicine, fuel-can reach the people of Gaza," Sanders, a socialist who works with Senate Democrats, said on X on Wednesday.
Sanders, chair of the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, urged Congress to take action.
If there is no pause in the fighting, "thousands more will die needlessly," he warned.
He added that a stop to the bombing is critical to save innocent lives and secure the safe return of hostages.
"The situation in Gaza today is a disaster … Today, three weeks after Hamas' barbaric attack against civilians in Israel-which began this war-many hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women, and children in Gaza today are on the brink," he said.
Over the past three weeks, it is estimated that over 8,000 people in Gaza have been killed in bombings, including more than 3,000 children, and far more have been wounded, he added.
"More than a million people in Gaza have been displaced from their homes and some 670,000 are sheltering in UN installations where they are down to one liter of water per person, per day," he noted.
Noting how they lack sufficient food, water, medical supplies, or fuel for the hospitals and medical facilities, he said they are living in "nightmarish conditions."
"With hundreds of babies in incubators and patients on life support at risk of death should the generators that sustain them run out of fuel," he said.
Stressing that hospital corridors are lined with injured and displaced people, he said overwhelmed doctors must turn patients away or operate without anesthesia or antibiotics.
This week, the Israeli army has expanded its air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip, which has been under relentless airstrikes since a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7.
Nearly 10,600 people have been killed in the conflict, including 9,061 Palestinians and more than 1,538 Israelis.
Besides the large number of casualties and massive displacements of people, basic supplies are running low for the 2.3 million residents in Gaza due to the Israeli siege.
