FOLLOWING THE KILLING of seven World Central Kitchen workers by an Israeli strike while delivering food to Gaza earlier this week, House Democrats wrote a letter on Friday to U.S. President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging them to halt the the transfer of weapons to Israel until a full investigation into the airstrike was completed.

The letter, spearheaded by Reps. Mark Pocan, Jim McGovern and Jan Schakowsky, was signed by 40 lawmakers including Nancy Pelosi and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

“In light of this incident, we strongly urge you to reconsider your recent decision to authorize the transfer of a new arms package to Israel, and to withhold this and any future offensive arms transfers until a full investigation into the airstrike is completed,” wrote the representatives. “If this strike is found to have violated U.S. or international law, we urge you to continue withholding these transfers until those responsible are held accountable. We also urge you to withhold these transfers if Israel fails to sufficiently mitigate harm to innocent civilians in Gaza, including aid workers, and if it fails to facilitate – or arbitrarily denies or restricts – the transport and delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza.”

In a statement to Rolling Stone, a spokesperson for Pelosi said she is “sympathetic to some of the thoughts in the letter, and she feels very strongly that there must be a comprehensive, independent investigation into the horrific killing of the World Central Kitchen heroes,” adding, “Speaker Pelosi knows President Biden’s support for Israel and empathy with the innocent civilians in Gaza, and she respects his judgment in how to proceed.”