Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and other U.S. lawmakers on Sunday hid inside a shelter in Tel Aviv during a missile attack from Hamas, according to Schumer, who said the episode illustrated the need for the U.S. to continue backing Israel.
Schumer and Romney were part of a bipartisan congressional delegation that visited the country amid the current conflict to meet with senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as they continued to work toward a support package.
Schumer said the incident demonstrated “what Israelis have to go through.”
“We must provide Israel with the support required to defend itself,” Schumer wrote in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
In a press conference after the episode, Schumer said the delegation, which included Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.), was having lunch at the hotel when the sirens went off. They were immediately rushed to a shelter, where they stayed put until the coast was clear, he said.
During their trip, the delegation also met with the families of victims and hostages.
“When we met them, there was not a dry eye in the house,” Schumer said. “It shook me to my core. I think about it all the time.”
The current conflict was triggered by a surprise attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, which saw Palestinian militants storming Israeli border towns and communities, gunning down revelers at a music festival and kidnapping hundreds of people, including foreign nationals.
Israel responded by relentlessly bombarding Gaza and cutting off the territory’s access to water and other essential supplies temporarily. Israel is reportedly preparing a ground offensive.
Gaza’s hospitals are approaching a breaking point, with medics warning that essential supplies are running out.
The death toll has continued to climb, with more than 4,150 people dead on both sides and many others injured.
“Look, what happened in Gaza, in my view, is Hamas,” Biden told CBS’ “60 Minutes.” “And the extreme elements of Hamas don’t represent all the Palestinian people. And I think that it would be a mistake for Israel to occupy Gaza again.”
Biden is reportedly considering traveling to Israel himself in the coming days as a sign of the U.S.’s commitment to stand by Israel amid the ongoing fighting.