EASTHAMPTON — After hearing dozens of residents advocate passionately over recent weeks for their local government to take a stand, the City Council on Wednesday approved a resolution calling for an “immediate and permanent cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.”

The resolution, drafted by a diverse group and sponsored by City Councilors Homar Gomez and Koni Denham, also urges humanitarian aid for Gaza, the release of all hostages, and an end to unconditional U.S. aid to the Israeli government.

“This is not a war,” Emily Gamber told the council. “This is killing with American dollars, aimed and shot by the Israeli military.”

Gamber was one of 43 residents to speak to the council Wednesday about the resolution, following similar turnouts at the March 20 council meeting and two meetings of the council’s Rules Committee last month. Four speakers expressed qualms about the wording of the resolution, while the rest urged the council to pass it as written.

The council approved the resolution, with eight votes in favor and Councilor Owen Zaret abstaining. Other than James “JP” Kwiecinski, who commented in favor of the resolution before reading it in full, none of the councilors spoke about the resolution before voting.

Supporters of the resolution demonstrated in the rain prior to the council meeting.

At the meeting, speaker after speaker cited the atrocities being carried out in Gaza, the bombing of hospitals, the ever-growing civilian death toll and the specter of famine.

“The main reason I support this resolution is because I am Jewish,” Sara Weinberger said.

She said her faith teaches that saving a life takes precedence over almost every other religious act or consideration.

“I stand together with Jews all over the world in condemnation of the most destructive, hateful and right-wing administration in the history of Israel,” Weinberger said.

Doug Hostetter, a former director of the Mennonite Central Committee at the United Nations in New York, read part of a message from a friend of his, Amgad Al-Mhalwi, who worked at the Al-Najd Developmental Forum, a non-governmental organization in Gaza City.

“When we were driven from our home near Gaza city, our children have become sick,” the message read.

“My children are suffering and we are tired. Do you accept that your children suffer like our children or die like our children? Help us save us. Stop the fighting. I want to live in safety with my family.”

Physician Danielle O’Banion cited the Israeli Defense Forces’ direct targeting of health care workers, and others mentioned the seven aid workers killed in three separate strikes this week.

Mordechai Kamel said U.S. taxpayers funding this war “have an obligation to demand that our federal government hold the government of Israel to the Geneva Conventions and the laws of the U.S., both of which the government of Israel is currently violating.”

The United Nations Security Council on March 25 issued its first demand for a cease-fire in Gaza, with the U.S. angering Israel by abstaining from the vote. Israel responded by canceling a visit to Washington by a high-level delegation in the strongest public clash between the allies since the war began.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the U.S. of “retreating” from a “principled position” by allowing the vote to pass without conditioning the cease-fire on the release of hostages held by Hamas.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said the administration was “kind of perplexed” by Netanyahu’s decision. He said the Israelis were “choosing to create a perception of daylight here when they don’t need to do that.”

Kirby and the American ambassador to the U.N. said the U.S. abstained because the resolution did not condemn Hamas. U.S. officials chose to abstain rather than veto the proposal “because it does fairly reflect our view that a cease-fire and the release of hostages come together,” Kirby said.

Back in Easthampton on Wednesday, after the public had its say at the council meeting, Kwiecinski recommended council approval and read the full resolution before a vote was held.

The resolution cites 32,490 killed as of March 27, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and Easthampton taxpayers’ contribution of $154,134 in aid to Israel annually.

Though no councilors spoke about the resolution on Wednesday, Zaret, a member of the Jewish Federation of Western Massachusetts, previously spoke against the measure. While Amherst was debating its resolution in February, the federation stated that “a cease-fire now is accepting the continuation of Hamas’s terror regime, and a guaranteed repeat of the October 7th attack against Israel.”

Easthampton becomes the fourth Pioneer Valley municipality, after Northampton, Amherst and Greenfield, to pass a similar resolution. The document will be forwarded to Easthampton’s congressional representatives as well as to President Biden.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report. James Pentland can be reached at jpentland@gazettenet.com.