Today marks day five without food for Delaware State Rep. Madinah Wilson-Anton and four other state representatives — all of whom are Democrats — who launched a hunger strike earlier this week alongside activist groups and Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon to push President Joe Biden to call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

But for millions of people trapped in Gaza, 55 days have passed without reliable access to food, shelter, water, electricity or medical care. The Israeli military’s counteroffensive in the region has created a growing humanitarian crisis, displacing 1.7 million Palestinians according to the UN and killing an estimated 13,000 according to Gaza’s health ministry.

“A permanent ceasefire and the beginning of diplomatic peace talks is the only path forward for peace and stability,” Wilson-Anton said. “A temporary ceasefire does nothing to prevent further loss of life.”

She said the strike is heavily influenced by the resistance of Palestinian detainees, who’ve used hunger strikes to draw attention to unjust conditions in Israeli prisons.

The strike coincides with a four-day humanitarian pause in Gaza that took effect Friday and was extended to a total of seven days. The pause halted bombing in Gaza long enough to allow some aid into the region and the safe release of 240 jailed Palestinian women and minors and 81 Israeli hostages, but demonstrators at the White House want Biden to push beyond the temporary measure. Wilson-Anton said it’s an opportunity for Biden to demonstrate the “moral leadership” he promised when vying for the presidency.

As officials negotiate prolonging the pause, the group of demonstrators outside the White House has grown in numbers, up to 75 people, she said, with hundreds expected to show Friday.

Michigan State Rep. Abraham Aiyash is the latest legislative leader to join the front lines. On Wednesday, Aiyash announced his plans to travel to Washington, D.C. to stand with other elected officials opposed to further fighting in Gaza.

“It’s incredibly painful to see that, despite the stopping of bombs right now, folks are under crumbling infrastructure. Folks are under no running water, no access to food, no access to electricity,” he told reporters.

Aiyash and other Michigan lawmakers penned a letter to President Biden pressing him to support a permanent ceasefire just one day after Israel and Hamas agreed to implement the humanitarian pause.

Aiyash told reporters he will subsist on water, coffee and Gatorade in the final days of the strike.

Members of Congress showed their support for demonstrators Wednesday, echoing their demand for a permanent end to the fighting.

Congresswoman Cori Bush, who introduced the Ceasefire Now Resolution in the House of Representatives last month, said a permanent ceasefire is a “critical” and “obvious” step toward lasting peace.

“Our movement is working. They feel our energy in the White House. They hear our demands. They see us marching in the streets,” she said. “We are moving closer and closer to that permanent and lasting ceasefire.

Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib read from a long list of names of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks and called on Biden once more to put an end to the conflict. House members fell short of expelling Tlaib when they voted to censure her over her criticism of the Israeli government in November.

“How many more lives will be enough? How many more children need to be killed? How many more families have to be traumatized and torn apart?,” Tlaib said Wednesday. “There is nothing humanitarian, my friends, about giving innocent civilians a few days of rest before they are bombed again.”

Tlaib also noted a figure that Wilson-Anton and those standing alongside her at the White House today hope will sway the Biden administration: more than 66 percent of Americans back a ceasefire in Gaza.