J Street is deeply saddened and horrified by the ongoing violent escalation taking place in Israel and Gaza, as Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups continue to fire rockets indiscriminately at Israeli cities and the IDF continues to conduct intensive retaliatory strikes in Gaza.

According to the latest reports, at least 28 Palestinians and three Israelis have been killed, with many others wounded — including children. In the cities of Southern Israel and beyond to Tel Aviv, civilians are running for cover in shelters, with rockets already having struck an apartment building and a public bus. In Gaza, we’ve seen an entire large building fully demolished by airstrikes. Once again, this horribly familiar violent cycle is causing death, pain, fear and anguish.

Our thoughts are with the people of Israel and the Palestinian Territory — including so many of our own staff and our families, friends and colleagues — who are living through this nightmare.

We unequivocally condemn indiscriminate rocket attacks by Hamas and other militant groups and support Israel’s need to defend its citizens. We have also repeatedly seen that there is no ultimate military solution possible to this crisis, and that these escalations and intensive Israeli strikes cause devastation for the people of Gaza without ending the long-term threat of more rocket attacks.

We continue to urge the Biden administration to take urgent, proactive and decisive steps to help de-escalate this crisis and to secure an urgent ceasefire. The US government can and must be heavily involved in bringing a halt to this violence, and in helping to address its persistent root causes, including the ongoing occupation and the eviction and dispossession of Palestinian families in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Lives are at stake and time is of the essence.