Sen. Bernie Sanders today released the following statement ahead of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, which is poised to begin on Sunday:
I am pleased that the Israeli security cabinet has finally approved a ceasefire agreement. My hope is that the destruction will soon end and that the hostages will finally be returned to their families. Sadly, the deal approved today is essentially the same agreement that Prime Minister Netanyahu and his extremist government rejected in May of last year. More than 10,000 people have died since that proposal was presented, and the suffering of the hostages and innocent people in Gaza only deepened.
Let’s be clear: On October 7, 2023, Hamas and its late leader, Yahya Sinwar, committed a barbaric terrorist attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 innocent people and took 250 hostages. Israel clearly had the right to defend itself against Hamas. The International Criminal Court (ICC) is correct in indicting Mr. Sinwar as a war criminal for these atrocities.
Tragically, Israel chose not to go to war simply against Hamas, but has instead waged an all-out war against the entire Palestinian people. In a Gazan population of 2.2 million, more than 46,000 people have been killed and 110,000 injured, according to the United Nations. A peer-reviewed study in the medical journal Lancet concludes that the total is much higher, with some 64,000 Palestinians killed. The vast majority of those dead are women and children.