NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani marked the anniversary of the Oct. 7 terror attacks in Israel as he attempts to navigates a complicated political dynamic, calling the day “profoundly painful” for many New Yorkers while also criticizing Israel for carrying out a “genocide” in Gaza.

Three years ago, Hamas launched a massacre in Israel, killing around 1,200 and taking 251 hostages. The attacks prompted Israel’s military offensive in Gaza to eradicate Hamas, in which some 70,000 Palestinians have been killed.

In a statement issued Wednesday, Mamdani said the Hamas attacks were “horrific war crimes” that are “profoundly painful” for many New Yorkers while also calling out destruction in Gaza and the actions of both the Israeli and U.S. governments. The war has displaced nearly 2 million people and destroyed homes, infrastructure and other public services.

“We grieve alongside our many friends and neighbors who still carry that unthinkable loss,” he said in a statement, concerning the Hamas massacre on Oct. 7.

The mayor then pivoted to the war that followed: “The suffering did not begin nor end that day. It instead continued through the Israeli government’s devastating, ongoing genocide in Gaza,” the statement said.

The mayor added that the federal government must end its “complicity” in the conflict as it continues to send military aid.

Mamdani, who’s built much of his political identity around support of Palestinian rights, has tried to navigate the complicated dynamics around the conflict in his first year in office. On Wednesday evening, he is expected to attend a vigil in honor of the victims of the Oct. 7 attacks, and then meet with Palestinian New Yorkers.

Along the way, he has faced intense criticism from prominent Jewish groups, who have said his rhetoric about Israel fuels growing antisemitism. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has leveled sharp attacks against Mamdani, particularly over the mayor’s assertion that the government’s actions in Gaza constitute a genocide.

Earlier in the week, Ofir Akunis, Israel’s consul general in New York, invited the mayor to join him in watching footage of the Oct. 7 attacks that was compiled by the Israel Defense Forces.

“Perhaps after watching the film, you will understand why the existence of the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish people is so important and why we will continue to defend ourselves at any cost,” Akunis wrote in a letter to Mamdani.

New York is home to the largest Jewish population outside Israel as well as thousands of Palestinians — so the city has many personal ties to the conflict. But the effects of the conflict have also reverbered less directly, as antisemetic hate crimes have climbed amid the debate over Gaza.

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