WASHINGTON, Oct. 7 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today released the following statement on the two-year anniversary of the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack in Israel:

Today, we remember that two years ago, Hamas, a terrorist organization, stormed into Israel, murdering some 1,200 innocent men, women and children, taking hundreds of hostages, and engaging in horrific atrocities. The International Criminal Court was right to indict Hamas’ leaders as war criminals.

Forty-eight of those hostages are still being held in Gaza. They must be released immediately.

Like any country suffering a terrorist attack, Israel had the absolute right to defend itself and go after Hamas.

Tragically, however, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and his extremist government did not simply go to war against Hamas terrorists. Instead, they unleashed an all-out war against the entire Palestinian people. The horrors of that war cannot be overstated.

In a population of just 2.2 million, more than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed — mostly women, children and the elderly — and nearly 170,000 have been injured. Virtually the entire infrastructure of Gaza has been destroyed and made uninhabitable. And, as a result of Israel’s ongoing blockade of humanitarian aid, the people of Gaza are starving. The International Criminal Court was right to indict Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders for these war crimes.

The United States can no longer be complicit in this horrific tragedy. We must stop providing military support to the Netanyahu government. We must secure a lasting ceasefire that stops the killing, brings the remaining hostages home, allows for a massive surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza and provides Palestinians with a path towards a state of their own.