On Wednesday, President Biden spoke to Prime Minister Netanayahu and reportedly told him that he “expected a significant de-escalation today on the path to a ceasefire.” But the Biden administration also said the same day it would block a United Nations Security Council resolution proposed by France calling for an end to violence and humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip. The U.S. has blocked at least three other such attempts at the U.N. since Israel’s bombing campaign began 11 days ago.

On Capitol Hill, Senator Bernie Sanders on Wednesday introduced a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire and supporting diplomatic efforts to protect human rights and to uphold international law. Sanders blasted a competing Republican-led resolution for failing to express sympathy for the killing of Palestinians.

Sen. Bernie Sanders: “The loss of 12 innocent Israeli lives is, in fact, a tragedy. But what about the loss of 227 Palestinian lives, including 64 children and 38 women?”

Today, Senator Sanders is expected to introduce a resolution of disapproval on a planned $735 million U.S. sale of precision-guided weapons to Israel. A similar resolution in the House was co-sponsored by Democrats Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Mark Pocan and Rashida Tlaib — the first Palestinian American congresswoman. Ocasio-Cortez tweeted, “The United States should not be rubber-stamping weapons sales to the Israeli government as they deploy our resources to target international media outlets, schools, hospitals, humanitarian missions and civilian sites for bombing.”