Schumer rushed to shelter from rockets in Tel Aviv

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Sunday that he and a congressional delegation he led to Israel were forced to rush to shelter from rockets in Tel Aviv.

“While in Tel Aviv today, our delegation was rushed to a shelter to wait out rockets sent by Hamas,” Schumer wrote in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “It shows you what Israelis have to go through. We must provide Israel with the support required to defend itself.”

Schumer, along with Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Mitt Romney (R-Utah), is visiting Israel to meet with government leaders and families impacted by the ongoing violence between Israel and the militant group Hamas.

Sirens in Tel Aviv then sent the group back into shelter, delaying a scheduled press conference, Schumer said Sunday.

“We also experienced what Israelis experience almost every day,” Schumer said during the press conference. “We were having a lunch up in the hotel and the sirens went off. We heard them and we were all rushed into a shelter and had to stay there until the coast was clear. And then a few minutes ago, this press conference was delayed for the same reason.”

Fighting raged on Sunday, eight days after Hamas’s onslaught of surprise attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, when they invaded numerous Israeli towns by land, sea and air. Shortly after, Israel launched a major counteroffensive in Gaza, launching a barrage of airstrikes into the territory.

The violence has claimed more than 3,600 lives — mostly civilians — from both sides, with thousands more injured. The State Department confirmed Saturday that 27 Americans have been killed amid the conflict.

In Gaza, an estimated 2,329 Palestinians have died, and 9,042 were injured, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Authorities in Israel said more than 1,300 Israelis have died in the conflict, the vast majority of them civilians killed in Hamas’s deadly surprise attack last weekend, according to The Associated Press. 

Last weekend, in the hours after Hamas’s initial attacks, Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) and his family were forced to shelter when Hamas launched a barrage of rocket attacks during their trip to Israel. Separately, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) had to take refuge in a bomb shelter while visiting Jerusalem.