Leader Schumer Floor Remarks Marking The Second Anniversary Of Hamas’s Devastating October 7th Terrorist Attacks On Israel

Washington, D.C. - Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor to mark the second anniversary of Hamas's terrorist attacks on Israel, call for a return of all hostages, and implore all parties to continue working for a ceasefire negotiation. Below are Senator Schumer's remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Today marks two years since Hamas's horrific, brutal terrorist attacks on Israel.

A day of inextinguishable grief. The single deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.

No matter how much time passes, I will always remember October 7th as if it were yesterday.

On October 7th, I was in Beijing leading a bipartisan delegation in China, meeting with President Xi about opening up Chinese markets to U.S. companies, when I first learned of the attack.

I will never forget how the Israeli Ambassador to China came and told me what had happened in Israel, about what happened in Kibbutz Beeri, where Hamas gathered children, grandparents, mothers, and babies into one community center and gunned them all down.

It reminded me of the story of my great-grandmother in Chortkiv, in Western Ukraine, in 1941 when the Nazis came to her home and asked her to gather her greater family on the porch. About thirty-five people gathered, from ages 80 to three months. The Nazis said, "you're coming with us." She said, "We are not moving." Then, they machine gunned them all down. So, the story at Kibbutz Beeri was eerily reminiscent.

After hearing of the attack, I cut my trip to China short, as important as it was, and got on a plane to Israel as soon as I could. I told the Israeli people during these troubled times that the American people were with them.

What I saw in Israel in the aftermath of the attack shook me to my core. I met with families whose loved ones were killed and injured, including a woman telling me how she was waving good-bye to her son - twelve years old - who was kidnapped on a motorcycle by a Hamas thug.

I will never forget those meetings. There wasn't a dry eye in the house.

The world must never, never forget the horrors that Hamas inflicted on that day. The brutality and viciousness of Hamas's attacks - indiscriminate violence against innocent infants, young people at a concert, women, the elderly; sexual violence; taking hundreds of hostages - will remain ever present in my mind and the minds of the conscience of the world.

Today, we remember the victims of the October 7th attacks - may their memories be a blessing - and reaffirm our commitment to finally bring home all the hostages still held so cruelly by Hamas, the vicious organization that it is.

Two years later, 48 hostages remain in Hamas's captivity, including the remains of New Yorkers, Omer Neutra and Itay Chen.

Every day that these hostages remain in captivity - every day their families are denied full closure and burial of their loved ones - is a day too long. We remain committed to bringing the remaining hostages home as soon as possible.

At this crucial moment in negotiations, the Trump administration, and all those at the table, and the international community must do everything - everything - to finally secure a ceasefire-hostage agreement to end the war in Gaza, to bring home the hostages held by Hamas, to surge desperately-needed humanitarian relief for innocent Palestinians facing heartbreaking levels of hunger and devastation in Gaza, and finally, to build an enduring and lasting peace.

It's imperative that all parties involved do everything possible to secure this desperately-needed agreement.

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