New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani condemned Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre but said the suffering “did not begin nor end that day” before accusing Israel of genocide, occupation, apartheid and war crimes.

NEW YORK CITY — Mayor Zohran Mamdani marked the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack Tuesday by mourning the Israelis killed and abducted while arguing that the suffering surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict began before the massacre.

“This day is profoundly painful for so many New Yorkers,” Mamdani said. “It marks three years since the horrific war crimes of October 7.”

Mamdani said Hamas killed more than 1,100 Israelis and abducted 251 others in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

‘The Suffering Did Not Begin Nor End That Day’

After addressing the Israeli victims, Mamdani turned the statement toward Gaza and the actions of the Israeli government.

“The suffering did not begin nor end that day,” Mamdani said. “It instead continued through the Israeli government’s devastating, ongoing genocide in Gaza.”

While the statement does not explicitly say Israel caused the Oct. 7 attack. Mamdani’s language, he framed the massacre within a broader history of conflict and Palestinian suffering rather than treating Oct. 7 as the beginning of that suffering.

Mamdani Accuses Israel of Genocide and War Crimes

Mamdani said more than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, including more than 21,000 children, and said more than 1,400 Palestinians had been killed since what he called the “so-called ceasefire.”

He also accused Israel of bombing ambulances, striking residential buildings and journalists and turning away food aid at border crossings.

“Many New Yorkers are reckoning with this unbearable grief, and we mourn alongside them — all while knowing that our tax dollars fund these war crimes,” Mamdani said.

Israel has rejected accusations that its military campaign in Gaza amounts to genocide and says its operations have targeted Hamas following the Oct. 7 attack.

Mayor Also Blames U.S. Arms Support

Mamdani also criticized the federal government for continuing to provide military assistance to Israel.

“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,” he said.

Mamdani closed the statement by calling for freedom and security for all people affected by the conflict.

“To honor the dead, we must fight for a world in which every person can live with freedom, safety, and dignity,” he said.