Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said for the first time on Wednesday that Israel is committing “genocide” in its war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. 

Sanders, among the most outspoken critics of Israel's government in Congress, said Israel has the right to defend itself after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack, during which some 1,200 Israelis were killed and another 250 were taken hostage. 

“But, over the last two years, Israel has not simply defended itself against Hamas. Instead, it has waged an all-out war against the entire Palestinian people. Many legal experts have now concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza,” Sanders wrote in an op-ed on Wednesday, titled “It Is Genocide.” 

The progressive senator referenced various legal experts and human rights groups that have said Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza. The Israeli government has long rejected these accusations. 

An independent panel of experts commissioned by the United Nations Human Rights Council said in a report on Tuesday there are reasonable grounds to conclude that Israel has carried out four of the five genocidal acts outlined under international law since the war began in early October 2023, namely “killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part and imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.” 

Israeli officials slammed the findings as “fake,” accusing the authors of serving as “proxies” for Hamas, which is designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. government, and holding “openly antisemitic positions.” 

“The report relies entirely on Hamas falsehoods, laundered and repeated by others. These fabrications have already been thoroughly debunked, including in an independent, in-depth academic study by BESA, which refuted every single false claim regarding genocide,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. “Needless to say, the three authors made no attempt to address the clear findings of the BESA study.” 

On Tuesday, Israel's military formally launched its long-planned ground operation in Gaza City, hoping to take control of the area it says is one of the last remaining strongholds of Hamas. The operation has gotten pushback from the international community. 

Sanders, who is Jewish, said the “legal question" of whether Israel's actions amount to genocide "hinges on intent.” 

“Israeli leaders have made their intent clear. Early in the conflict, the defense minister said, ‘We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly.’ The finance minister vowed that ‘Gaza will be entirely destroyed.’ Another minister declared: ‘All Gaza will be Jewish … we are wiping out this evil.’ Israeli President Herzog said, ‘It is an entire nation out there that is responsible,'" the Vermont senator wrote. 

“The intent is clear. The conclusion is inescapable: Israel is committing genocide in Gaza,” Sanders said Wednesday. 

The op-ed marks the first time Sanders has publicly and explicitly accused Israel of committing genocide since the conflict with Hamas began in early October 2023. Sanders has received pushback from some progressives over not labeling the Israeli military’s conduct in the enclave as genocide. 

“I recognize that many people may disagree with this conclusion. 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,” he wrote in the op-ed. 

Sanders reiterated his call for the U.S. government to stop sending offensive weapons to Israel, an immediate ceasefire in the region and a “massive surge” of humanitarian aid into the enclave.