(MENAFN) Senator Bernie Sanders urged the United States to halt military support to Israel on Tuesday, accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration of committing atrocities in Gaza.

While affirming that Israel has the “absolute right” to defend itself and target the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, Sanders highlighted the devastating impact on civilians in the conflict’s second year. “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,” he said.

Sanders noted that in Gaza, home to 2.2 million people, over 67,000 Palestinians have died and nearly 170,000 have been injured. He attributed part of the humanitarian catastrophe to Israel’s blockade, which has caused widespread starvation, and voiced support for the International Criminal Court’s indictments of Israeli leaders, including Netanyahu, for 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,” Sanders added.

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