PHOENIX — Protestors held a sit-in at Sen. Mark Kelly's office in Phoenix Tuesday to call on him to support a ceasefire in Gaza.
The protestors included members of the Jewish, Palestinian, Arab and Muslim communities in Arizona. 10 people were arrested after refusing to move to a designated area while protesting. All 10 were cited for trespassing and released, police said.
More than 11,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of them women and minors, have been killed since the war began in October, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza.
"On November 8th, 26 members of the Senate Democratic caucus, not including Sen. Kelly, issued a letter asking the Biden administration to 'ensure that Israeli military operations conducted inside Gaza are carried out in accordance with international humanitarian law and to ensure that any U.S.-provided equipment is used in a manner consistent with U.S. law.'
"We are launching a peaceful, nonviolent action to demand that Senator Mark Kelly, and all of Arizona's elected officials, support an immediate ceasefire," a statement from the group, who are calling themselves "Ceasefire Now Phoenix," said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed urgent international calls for a cease-fire unless it includes the release of all the nearly 240 hostages captured by Hamas in the Oct. 7 rampage that triggered the war.
"We are horrified beyond words at what is unfolding," the statement from the group said.
At least 1,200 people have been killed on the Israeli side, mostly civilians killed in the initial Hamas attack. Forty-six Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the ground offensive began.
