JERUSALEM, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Israeli authorities are investigating claims by U.S. researchers that some investors may have known in advance of a Hamas plan to attack Israel on Oct. 7 and used that information to profit from Israeli securities.

Socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and firebrand Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) are co-sponsoring a bill to restrict members of Congress from owning or trading stocks.

Eighteen years ago this month, the House Republican majority took office and immediately got to work gutting congressional ethics rules. GOP members saw the move as necessary, in large part because then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay was caught up in a variety of controversies, and leaving the rules intact put his career in jeopardy.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband Paul was blasted for buying $5 million of shares in a chip manufacturer days before a legislative vote that could hand $52 billion to semiconductor producers.

One day after Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Democrats' leader in the Senate, reportedly threw his support behind a ban on the trading of single-name stocks by American lawmakers, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is reportedly working on rallying support for such a ban and preparing to bring one of the bills to the floor for a vote, according to Punchbowl News.

A poll has found a sweeping majority of voters in favor of banning members of Congress from trading stocks, adding to arguments in favor of regulating lawmaker's trades after an Insider investigation.

Speaker Pelosi rejected the idea of barring Congress members and their spouses from trading stocks.