Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) said Thursday that she supported two resolutions led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to cut off shipments of assault rifles and bombs and bomb guidance kits to Israel, in a pivot from her previous stances.

Slotkin missed the votes on the resolutions which occurred Wednesday, having spent part of the day taping an episode of “The Late Show with Steven Colbert.” Slotkin’s support brings the total number of Democrats supporting the two resolutions to 28 and 25, respectively. Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, a potential future colleague of Slotkin in Michigan’s Senate delegation, also voiced support Wednesday for cutting off offensive weapons to Israel.

“I have struggled with this Joint Resolution of Disapproval more than any previous votes in the nearly two years since Hamas initiated the attacks of October 7,” Slotkin said in a statement. “Had I made it back for the vote yesterday, I would have voted yes to block offensive weapons to Israel based on my concerns over lack of food and medicine getting to civilians in Gaza.”

She said she remains a “strong supporter of the Jewish State of Israel … But despite the fact that Hamas began this bloody round of conflict — and refuses to release the hostages — the images of emaciated children are hard to turn away from. As are the calls from Michiganders who have friends and family trying to survive in Gaza.”

The senator called the resolution votes “a bad way to do foreign policy” and said that it’s the role of the executive branch to set foreign policy and negotiate with other countries, but that the Israeli government believes “there are no limits to what they can do while still receiving U.S. support. And so, I believe a message has to be sent.”

She said her support for future similar resolutions would be determined “on a case-by-case basis,” pending changes to the humanitarian situation. She said she “continue[s] to support the U.S.-Israel security relationship” and defensive weapons sales including missile defense systems.

“While the leaders of Hamas deserve what they’re getting in response to October 7, and Israel — like any other country in the world — has the right to defend itself, that doesn’t include letting children go hungry,” Slotkin continued in the statement. “That is despite Hamas’ sick refusal to relent, prevent further destruction, negotiate in good faith and release the hostages.”

She also argued that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s actions endanger Israel because they “threaten the longstanding bipartisan consensus that have helped keep Israel safe since its inception,” describing her position as one based on “deep concern and conviction for Israel’s long-term security” and the threats Israel has faced since the day it was founded.

McMorrow, a Democratic Senate candidate running for the seat of retiring Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), said on the campaign trail on Wednesday that she supports stopping offensive weapons transfers to Israel.

“The United States has to stop providing Netanyahu with offensive weapons that do nothing but continue to extend this war,” she said.

McMorrow said that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is “indefensible” and that “we cannot let [Netanyahu] tell us that what we are seeing with our own eyes is not what is actually happening.”

She also demanded that Hamas release all of the hostages and disarm and that the parties must reach a permanent ceasefire.

“It feels like we’ve lost the humanity in this issue and what is true is that Palestinians deserve security and peace. Israelis deserve security and peace,” McMorrow said. “And the United States, as the most powerful nation in the world, has to do everything in our power and our influence to make it all happen.”

The other Democratic candidates in the race, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), a longtime vocal supporter of Israel, and Abdul El-Sayed, an Israel critic, haven’t responded to requests for comment on the prospect of blocking offensive weapons sales to Israel.

The two other Senate Democrats who missed Wednesday’s votes, Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), both said they would have voted against both resolutions.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced a joint resolution of disapproval on Monday to block an arms transfer to Israel, setting up another Senate floor battle on Wednesday over U.S. aid to Israel — the third since November of last year.

The resolution comes as criticism of Israel has reached new heights among Senate Democrats over the humanitarian situation in Gaza, a state of affairs that could generate increased support for Sanders’ latest effort.

A Sanders spokesperson said that the resolution would block the sale of $1 million worth of assault rifles to “to the police force overseen by extremist minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has long advocated for the forcible expulsion of Palestinians from the region, has been convicted by an Israeli court of racist incitement and supporting the Kahanist terror organization, and has been distributing weapons to violent settlers in the West Bank.”

“At a time when Israeli soldiers are shooting civilians trying to get food aid on a near-daily basis, the United States should not be providing more weapons to Israeli security forces,” the Sanders spokesperson said.  

Sanders is forcing a vote on Wednesday on this new resolution as well as one relating to bombs and bomb guidance kits for Israel that he introduced months ago but had not previously called up for a vote.

The spokesperson did not say whether Sanders will force a vote on the resolution, but  if he does, it would likely not happen until September, with the Senate expected to depart for its August recess at the end of the week.

“American taxpayer dollars are being used to starve children, bomb civilians and support the cruelty of Netanyahu and his criminal ministers. … The White House and Congress must immediately act to end this war using the full scope of American influence,” Sanders said in a statement last week. “No more military aid to the Netanyahu government. History will condemn those who fail to act in the face of this horror.”

The Vermont senator accused Israel of “using mass starvation to engineer the ethnic cleansing of Gaza” and described the Israeli- and American-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s aid distribution sites as “death traps for Palestinian civilians, with near-daily massacres.”

In November, the first time Sanders forced votes on aid to Israel, 19 Senate Democrats voted for at least one of three resolutions that came up for consideration. In April, 15 voted for a pair of similar measures.

At least one lawmaker, Sen. Angus King (I-ME), who voted for the first set of resolutions but against the second, would likely flip back to support a new effort to block aid.

“I am through supporting the actions of the current Israeli government and will advocate—and vote — for an end to any United States support whatsoever until there is a demonstrable change in the direction of Israeli policy,” King said in a statement earlier this week. “My litmus test will be simple: no aid of any kind as long as there are starving children in Gaza due to the action or inaction of the Israeli government.”

Connecting Ben-Gvir, a highly controversial figure, to the arms sales could also make some Senate Democrats who’ve opposed other Sanders-led efforts — like those to block the sale of bomb guidance kits — more open to supporting this one.