Amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, Representative Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, urged for prayers for Palestinians on Sunday, while also encouraging peace.
Hamas launched an attack on Israel on Saturday—in a move that appeared to take the Israeli military and security services by surprise as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared "we are at war." The surprise attack by Hamas has already left 600 dead in Israel, the Associated Press reported on Sunday morning. Meanwhile, Israel has performed counterattacks against Hamas, launching "Operation Swords of Iron."
Omar, who is one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress in 2018, has been one of Israel's strongest critics in the U.S. government, regularly condemning what she and others describe as human rights abuses against Palestinians. The Democratic lawmaker's critics regularly condemn her comments and opposition to Israel as antisemitic. Meanwhile, her defenders have pushed back against that assessment, pointing out that she regularly calls out alleged human rights abuses by Saudi Arabia and other nations as well.
In a post shared to X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday Omar encouraged others to pray for Palestinians while emphasizing that human lives are being lost. The congresswoman also wrote that Palestinians deserve protection from the international community.
"Reminder, Gaza doesn't have shelters or an iron dome and to please pray for them. May peace prevail in the region and move us towards a moral awakening to care about the human suffering we are seeing. Palestinians are human beings who have been in besieged and are deserving of protection from the international community," Omar wrote on X.
Newsweek has reached out to Omar's office for further comment.
According to the AP, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), an assistance and protections agency for Palestine refugees, said over 20,000 people were sheltering in 44 of its schools around Gaza by Saturday evening after the agency said three of its schools suffered "collateral" damage from Israeli airstrikes.
Omar first responded to the attack by condemning the actions of Hamas on Saturday in a previous post to X.
"I condemn the horrific acts we are seeing unfold today in Israel against children, women, the elderly, and the unarmed people who are being slaughtered and taken hostage by Hamas. Such senseless violence will only repeat the back and forth cycle we've seen, which we cannot allow to continue. We need to call for deescalation and ceasefire," she wrote. "I will keep advocating for peace and justice throughout the Middle East."
As events continue to unfold, President Joe Biden condemned the attacks while stating that the United States stands by to offer its support to Israel.
"The United States unequivocally condemns this appalling assault against Israel by Hamas terrorists from Gaza, and I made clear to Prime Minister Netanyahu that we stand ready to offer all appropriate means of support to the Government and people of Israel," Biden said in a statement emailed to Newsweek by the White House. "Terrorism is never justified."
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres also "strongly" condemned Hamas' actions.
"The attacks have so far claimed numerous Israeli civilian lives and injured many hundreds," a spokesperson for Guterres said in an official statement on Saturday. "The Secretary-General is appalled by reports that civilians have been attacked and abducted from their own homes."
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Natalie Venegas is a Weekend Reporter at Newsweek based in New York. Her focus is reporting on education, social justice ... Read more
