Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT-I) questioned the viability of a long-term ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, given the latter's intent to eliminate the state of Israel.
While the independent Vermont senator urged the Israeli military to cease its bombing campaign in Gaza, which has killed more than 9,000 people, according to the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Ministry of Health, he did acknowledge that agreeing to a permanent ceasefire between the terror group that killed 1,400 people almost a month ago and the country that it victimized would not be tenable.
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"Well, I don't know how you can have a permanent ceasefire with an organization like Hamas, which is dedicated to turmoil and chaos and destroying the state of Israel. And I think what the Arab countries in the region understand [is] that Hamas has got to go," Sanders said on CNN's State of the Union on Sunday morning.
"What we need right now, the immediate task right now is to end the bombing, to end the horrific humanitarian disaster, to build, go forward with the entire world for a two-tier, two-state solution to the crisis, to give the Palestinian people hope," he said.
Israel's aggressive aerial campaign has leveled much of Gaza's infrastructure, and hospitals have been overwhelmed and under-resourced as it responds to the staggering casualty count. The strikes have led to humanitarian concerns, as more than a million people have been displaced from their homes, while most have little access to food and clean water.
Sanders's sentiment is seemingly at odds with other progressives usually aligned with him, many of whom have called for a complete ceasefire. One of the main advocates for a ceasefire on Capitol Hill is Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), the first woman of Palestinian descent to serve in Congress, who accused President Joe Biden "support[ing] the genocide of the Palestinian people."
The calls for a ceasefire have grown as the conflict has gone on, as Israel has pummeled Gaza's infrastructure.
Biden administration officials have argued that a ceasefire would benefit Hamas because they would use that time to refit and plan future attacks.
"We do not believe that a ceasefire is the right answer right now. We believe that a ceasefire right now benefits Hamas, and Hamas is the only one that would gain. ... What we have said is temporary localized humanitarian pauses," National Security Council Coordinator John Kirby said in late October.
A Hamas official, last week, said they would try to carry out repeat events of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, the worst one in Israel's history.
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"We must teach Israel a lesson, and we will do this again and again," Ghazi Hamad, a member of the Hamas political bureau, said in an interview that was translated by Memri. "The Al-Aqsa Flood is just the first time, and there will be a second, a third, a fourth because we have the determination, the resolve, and the capabilities to fight. Will we have to pay a price? Yes, and we are ready to pay it. We are called a nation of martyrs, and we are proud to sacrifice martyrs."