Mike Johnson responds to House Democrats’ calls for ceasefire: ‘Hamas broke it’

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) hit back at House Democrats who have called for a ceasefire in the war between Hamas and Israel on Thursday, stating that what occurred before the war started was a ceasefire.

“As Israel begins the next phase of its war, it’s been kind of disturbing to us — I’ve heard Democrats suggest there needs to be a ceasefire,” Johnson said. “Let us be clear — we’ve been very clear about this. There was a ceasefire before Oct. 7, and Hamas broke it.”

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Hamas launched attacks against the Jewish state in early October, provoking Israel to declare war for the first time since 1973. Since the Oct. 7 attacks and subsequent Israeli counterattacks, over 9,100 Palestinians (Gaza and the West Bank combined) and 1,400 Israelis have been killed, according to the Associated Press.

Johnson said Israel does not need a ceasefire and instead needs its allies to “cease with the politics and deliver support now.”

Johnson’s comments came this morning, hours before the House passed a multibillion-dollar Israel aid package on Thursday, 226-196, with 12 Democrats voting for the bill. Two Republicans voted against the bill.

The war and Israel’s response has divided Democrats, with members of the progressive “Squad” calling for a ceasefire since Israel began its “total siege” of Gaza. Lawmakers like Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), who is of Palestinian descent, Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) have called for the end to Israel’s “occupation,” though Ocasio-Cortez has released statements condemning the Hamas attacks and antisemitism rising across the United States.

Omar, Ocasio-Cortez, and Tlaib were among the handful of Democrats who voted against the resolution to support Israel last week. They also joined most Democrats in voting against Thursday’s Israel aid package.

Tlaib, who has arguably been the harshest Democratic critic of Israel’s response, including repeatedly parroting Hamas misinformation about a hospital explosion, called for a ceasefire again in a statement regarding Israel’s aid package on Thursday.

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“Achieving a just and lasting peace requires lifting the blockade, ending the occupation, and dismantling the dehumanizing system of apartheid,” Tlaib said.

“Instead of funding more bombs with American taxpayer dollars, our leaders should be calling for a ceasefire now, before this violence claims thousands more lives,” she added.