Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., for the first time labeled Israel’s military actions in Gaza as “genocide” in an opinion article posted Wednesday on his personal website.
“I recognize that many people may disagree with this conclusion,” Sanders wrote, with the headline: “It is Genocide.”
“The truth is, whether you call it genocide or ethnic cleansing or mass atrocities or war crimes, the path forward is clear. We, as Americans, must end our complicity in the slaughter of the Palestinian people.”
While the actual numbers of the nearly two-year-long conflict are in dispute, most figures put the number of civilian casualties in the tens of thousands. Since the war in Gaza began following the Oct. 7, 2023, slaughter of roughly 1,200 Israelis, estimates from a former chief of the Israeli military put the number of Palestinian killed and wounded at more than 200,000.
“There are 2.2 million people in Gaza. There are in Gaza today more than 10% who were killed or injured, more than 200,000. This is not a gentle war,” former IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said this week.
That figure roughly coincides with reports from the Palestinian Health Ministry, which is run by Hamas. The ministry has claimed about 65,000 people killed and more than 164,000 injured — numbers Sanders cited. Hamas has not said how many of the dead were terrorists.
In March 2024, Sanders told CBS News, “The United States of America cannot be complicit in this mass slaughter of children.” He was one of the first senators to push back on President Joe Biden’s military aid for Israel.
Sanders’ remarks came hours after a major Israeli offensive in Gaza City. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy all remaining Hamas terrorists there.
The longtime Vermont senator noted that almost all of the water and sanitation facilities are inoperable and Gaza has been without electricity for nearly two years.
“Having made life unlivable through bombing and starvation, they are pushing for ‘voluntary’ migration of Palestinians to neighboring countries to make way for President Trump’s twisted vision of a ‘Riviera of the Middle East,'” Sanders continued.
“Over the last two years, Israel has not simply defended itself against Hamas,” Sanders wrote. “Instead, it has waged an all-out war against the entire Palestinian people.”
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