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[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1537 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>

118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1537

Condemning the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, and calling for Hamas 
  and its leaders to immediately and unconditionally surrender and to 
               release the hostages, including Americans.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 8, 2024

Mr. Gottheimer (for himself, Ms. Lois Frankel of Florida, Mr. Wilson of 
  South Carolina, Mrs. Kim of California, Mr. Alford, Mr. Allred, Mr. 
Auchincloss, Mr. Bacon, Mr. Bean of Florida, Mrs. Beatty, Mr. Bera, Mr. 
Bishop of Georgia, Mr. Boyle of Pennsylvania, Ms. Brown, Ms. Brownley, 
 Ms. Caraveo, Mr. Carter of Georgia, Mr. Case, Ms. Castor of Florida, 
   Mrs. Chavez-DeRemer, Mrs. Cherfilus-McCormick, Mr. Ciscomani, Mr. 
Cohen, Mr. Costa, Ms. Craig, Mr. Crenshaw, Mr. Cuellar, Mr. D'Esposito, 
  Mr. Davis of North Carolina, Mr. Deluzio, Mr. Dunn of Florida, Mr. 
    Espaillat, Mr. Feenstra, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mr. Fleischmann, Mrs. 
 Fletcher, Mr. Flood, Mr. Gallego, Mr. Garbarino, Mr. Golden of Maine, 
   Mr. Goldman of New York, Mr. Tony Gonzales of Texas, Mr. Vicente 
Gonzalez of Texas, Ms. Granger, Mr. Horsford, Ms. Houlahan, Mr. Hoyer, 
   Ms. Hoyle of Oregon, Mr. Issa, Mr. Jackson of North Carolina, Mr. 
 Jackson of Illinois, Mr. Johnson of South Dakota, Mr. Joyce of Ohio, 
   Ms. Kaptur, Mr. Kean of New Jersey, Mr. Keating, Mrs. Kiggans of 
 Virginia, Mr. Kim of New Jersey, Mr. Kustoff, Mr. LaHood, Mr. LaLota, 
 Mr. Landsman, Mr. Latta, Mr. Lawler, Ms. Lee of Nevada, Mr. Lieu, Mr. 
Lucas, Mr. Magaziner, Ms. Malliotakis, Ms. Manning, Mr. McClintock, Mr. 
    Menendez, Ms. Meng, Mr. Miller of Ohio, Mrs. Miller-Meeks, Mr. 
Molinaro, Mr. Moolenaar, Mr. Moore of Utah, Mr. Moskowitz, Mr. Moulton, 
 Mr. Nickel, Mr. Norcross, Mr. Nunn of Iowa, Mr. Pallone, Mr. Panetta, 
    Mr. Pappas, Mrs. Peltola, Mr. Pence, Mr. Peters, Ms. Perez, Ms. 
  Pettersen, Mr. Pfluger, Mr. Phillips, Mr. Posey, Mr. Quigley, Mrs. 
Radewagen, Mr. Raskin, Mr. Rouzer, Mr. Rulli, Mr. Rutherford, Mr. Ryan, 
Ms. Salazar, Mr. Schiff, Mr. Schneider, Ms. Scholten, Ms. Schrier, Mr. 
  David Scott of Georgia, Mr. Sherman, Ms. Sherrill, Ms. Slotkin, Mr. 
  Sorensen, Mr. Soto, Ms. Spanberger, Mr. Stanton, Ms. Stefanik, Ms. 
  Stevens, Ms. Strickland, Mr. Suozzi, Mr. Swalwell, Mrs. Sykes, Ms. 
  Tenney, Mr. Thanedar, Mr. Thompson of Pennsylvania, Ms. Titus, Mrs. 
 Torres of California, Mr. Torres of New York, Mr. Trone, Mr. Turner, 
  Mr. Valadao, Mr. Van Drew, Mr. Vargas, Mr. Veasey, Mrs. Wagner, Mr. 
    Waltz, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mr. Weber of Texas, Ms. Wild, Mr. 
 Williams of New York, Ms. Williams of Georgia, Ms. Wilson of Florida, 
 and Mr. Yakym) submitted the following resolution; which was referred 
                  to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
Condemning the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, and calling for Hamas 
  and its leaders to immediately and unconditionally surrender and to 
               release the hostages, including Americans.

Whereas Hamas is designated by the United States as a foreign terrorist 
        organization, with a founding charter that calls for the destruction of 
        the State of Israel and the mass murder of Jews;
Whereas, since its creation, Hamas terrorists have repeatedly attacked Israel, 
        including through bombings, shootings, rocket attacks, and kidnappings;
Whereas Hamas has reignited multiple wars with Israel and has fired thousands of 
        rockets directly at civilians in Israeli cities and towns;
Whereas Hamas uses civilian infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, and homes 
        for their military operations, intentionally using civilians as human 
        shields;
Whereas, on October 7, 2023, Hamas violated an existing cease-fire, and with 
        Palestinian Islamic Jihad, other terrorist groups, and Gaza civilians 
        infiltrated Israel, invaded Israeli towns, launched thousands of rockets 
        into Israel, brutally murdered, raped, and burned alive more than 1,200 
        individuals, took 251 hostages, including Americans and citizens of more 
        than 40 countries, and destroyed and looted entire communities;
Whereas 105 hostages were released in a negotiated hostage deal in November 
        2023, following mediation efforts led by the United States;
Whereas Hamas killed more than 40 Americans on and after October 7, including 
        murdering Hersh Goldberg-Polin who spent more than 300 days in captivity 
        as a hostage;
Whereas Hamas still holds 7 American hostages: Edan Alexander, Itay Chen, Sagui 
        Dekel-Chen, Gadi Haggai, Judith Weinstein Haggai, Omer Neutra, and Keith 
        Siegel;
Whereas Hamas refuses to allow humanitarian organizations, such as the 
        International Committee of the Red Cross to visit and provide medical 
        care to the hostages;
Whereas Hamas committed brutal acts of sexual violence, including gang rape and 
        sexual mutilation, and Israeli officials have gathered eyewitness 
        testimony, video recordings, and forensic evidence proving these 
        atrocities;
Whereas released hostages have bravely come forward and confirmed they were 
        victims of sexual assault and witnessed the sexual abuse of fellow 
        hostages while in captivity;
Whereas, in March 2024, 5 months after October 7, the United Nation's Special 
        Representative of the Secretary General on Sexual Violence in Conflict 
        and her team found ``clear and convincing information that sexual 
        violence, including rape, sexualized torture, cruel, inhuman, and 
        degrading treatment has been committed against hostages'';
Whereas a senior Hamas official openly promised a ``second, third, fourth'' 
        October 7-style attack against Israel;
Whereas, even today, Hamas continues to fire rockets, including from within 
        designated humanitarian zones, into Israel and uses civilians as human 
        shields;
Whereas Israel, like other sovereign states, has a right to defend herself from 
        terrorist organizations and others who seek its destruction and 
        annihilation, such as Iranian-backed proxies, including Hamas, 
        Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and militias in Iraq 
        and Syria;
Whereas, since October 7, these Iranian proxy groups have fired thousands of 
        rockets, mortars, antitank missiles, and explosive UAVs into Israel, and 
        have attacked American and other allied servicemembers, bases, and ships 
        in the Middle East region;
Whereas, since October 8, Hezbollah has fired thousands of rockets into northern 
        Israel and forced the mass displacement of Israeli civilians from the 
        country's north;
Whereas, on April 13, Iran launched over 300 missiles and drones at Israel, the 
        first ever direct attack against Israel launched from Iranian soil;
Whereas the Administration worked with regional partners to counter Iran's 
        attack, and the Administration has deployed military assets to the 
        region to deter further aggression from Tehran and its regional proxies;
Whereas Congress passed and the United States Administration signed into law a 
        supplemental aid package that provides crucial military resources and 
        humanitarian aid; and
Whereas, in the aftermath of Hamas October 7 terrorist attacks, there has been a 
        worldwide surge in antisemitism, impacting Jewish communities globally, 
        including rising physical assaults, vandalism, and harassment targeting 
        Jews: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) condemns the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 
        7, the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust, 
        and those that continue to be perpetrated by the terrorist 
        organization, including the use of sexual violence as a tool of 
        war;
            (2) calls for Hamas to immediately surrender, cease its 
        attacks against Israel, and release all remaining hostages;
            (3) reaffirms Israel's right to self-defense from threats 
        and terrorist organizations that seek her destruction;
            (4) commits to ensuring that humanitarian aid reaches 
        Palestinian noncombatants;
            (5) urges international organizations, like the United 
        Nations and all nations across the globe, to unequivocally 
        denounce this attack and the ongoing atrocities committed by 
        Hamas terrorists and call for the immediate release of the 
        hostages; and
            (6) strongly condemns and denounces all instances of 
        antisemitism globally, domestically, including on college 
        campuses and commits to confronting and combating this hatred 
        in all its forms and at every level.
                                 <all>
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