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The Senate on Tuesday voted down a measure that would have forced the State Department to look into the deaths of nine Americans in the West Bank and into how Israel treats the Palestinian children it holds in military detention.

Getting into it: The measure, brought by Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, failed 47-51, mostly along party lines. Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the only Democrat to vote against it, while Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky was the only Republican to vote in favor. Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy and Dan Sullivan did not vote.

Van Hollen forced the vote using a provision of the Foreign Assistance Act that allows any member of Congress to demand a State Department human rights report on a country that gets US security aid. The resolution would have required the State Department to report back within 30 days on the investigations into the Americans’ deaths, how Israel is treating jailed US citizens, and what Palestinian children face in military custody.

“If the killing of nine Americans does not justify a report from our own state department, I would ask my colleagues: what would?” Van Hollen said on the Senate floor. “How many more Americans must be killed before the executive branch does its job? These families deserve answers.”

The nine Americans killed since January 2022 include Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot while reporting in Jenin; Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old raised in Seattle who was shot in the head by an Israeli soldier; 14-year-old Amer Rabee of New Jersey, who was reportedly shot 11 times; and 20-year-old Sayfollah Musallet of Florida, who was beaten to death by settlers in July 2025, a killing US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called a “criminal and terrorist act.”

Van Hollen says none of the cases has led to accountability from Israel or the US. The resolution also cited Palestinian American teens held in Israeli detention, including 16-year-old Mohammed Ibrahim of Florida, whose family was told he lost nearly a quarter of his body weight and was beaten during nine months in custody.

More to come.