Israel war: AOC calls for ceasefire despite being told it would ‘leave Hamas in place’ in Gaza

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said Sunday she would accept a ceasefire that would leave Hamas as the governing body of the Gaza Strip.

During an interview on MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan Show, Hasan asked the New York Democrat if she would “accept a ceasefire, though, would leave Hamas in place? You would accept that’s a cost of saving civilian lives in Gaza?”

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Ocasio-Cortez said, “I think in the immediate sense, we have to have a pause in what is going on.”

Ocasio-Cortez believes that while the Hamas attacks against Israel were “horrific,” the Jewish state’s counterattacks “are not an appropriate response.”

“What we are seeing unfold in Gaza is an indiscriminate bombing campaign,” she said. “It occurs to me, and I think a question we must all ask ourselves, is what price of innocent life is acceptable in terms of targeting Hamas?”

Ocasio-Cortez said that it is important for people to recognize the “asymmetry of what is going on, as well as the collective punishment of what is happening to the Palestinian people at this moment.”

“Hamas has absolutely engaged in horrific attacks, and every single day, there are more details that are released about what occurred on Oct. 7 that shocks the human consciousness and shocks our collective conscious,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “However, we do know, as well, that war crimes do not constitute and are not an appropriate response for other war crimes.”

The New York Democrat and her fellow “Squad” members have received heavy criticism for supporting Palestinians during the war between Hamas and Israel. Ocasio-Cortez and Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) have called for a ceasefire and an end to the “occupation,” which has prompted backlash from fellow Democrats and most Republicans. However, Ocasio-Cortez has broken from the “Squad” recently to condemn antisemitism at pro-Palestine rallies.

On Sunday night, Ocasio-Cortez blasted the Israeli government’s “total siege” on Gaza that was ordered shortly after the Jewish state declared war on Hamas, its first time declaring war since 1973.

“When we are talking about the blockading of water, food, electricity, to a population of 2.2 million Palestinians … the dropping and deployment of white phosphorous, which is also a war crime, it is unacceptable to think that 1,700 Palestinian children alone, that their deaths will somehow make up or justify the violence of what we saw on Oct. 7,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

More than 1,400 people have been killed in Israel since the war began, mostly civilians killed in the initial Hamas assault. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza is reporting that over 4,300 Palestinians have been killed. The Palestinian Health Ministry in the West Bank says 91 Palestinians have been killed there since Oct. 7, per the Associated Press.

Ocasio-Cortez said she has not seen reports detailing how successful Israeli counterattacks have been since the start of the war, stating that it is important for people to understand the conflict between Hamas and Israel is part of a “larger intergenerational cycle of violence.”

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The New York representative added that she disagrees with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and other Democrats who have pledged unconditional support to Israel. She said the goal should be to “break this cycle” of dehumanizing Palestinian and Israeli populations as a method of the “political aim of violence.”

“It’s absolutely not a defense of Hamas in order to criticize this current approach, this indiscriminate, violent approach,” she said.