New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani paid tribute to both Israelis killed three years ago by Hamas attackers in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and to Palestinians killed in the Gaza war that followed.

Wednesday “marks three years since the horrific war crimes of October 7. On that day, Hamas killed more than 1,100 Israelis and abducted 251 others,” the mayor said in an X post. “We grieve alongside our many friends and neighbors who still carry that unthinkable loss.”

He went on to repeat his previous criticism that the Israeli government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presided over an “ongoing genocide in Gaza,” saying that Israel “has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians—including more than 21,000 children.”

He added, “Three years later, we must refuse to accept a world in which occupation and apartheid continue, where war crimes are met with impunity, and our federal government continues its complicity with every arms shipment.”

The mayor is an anti-Zionist and has criticized the Israeli government sharply for its military actions in Gaza. That position on Israel has caused deep concern among members of the city’s Jewish community, the largest in the U.S.

Since his election, Mamdani has faced the political challenge of addressing concerns among Jewish New Yorkers about his opposition to Zionism while maintaining support among voters who share his anti-Zionist views.

About 1,200 people, including Israelis and foreign nationals, were killed in Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, most of them civilians, with another 251 taken hostage, according to Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Another 472 soldiers have been killed in the ground fighting that followed in Gaza, according to the Israel Defense Forces. In the ensuing war in Gaza, more than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants. The war has reshaped the region and reverberated around the world.

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