Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn., ripped claims in a new interview that Israel has committed war crimes in its retaliatory strikes against Hamas following its Oct. 7 massacre in the country.

Fetterman told CNN anchor Abby Phillip Monday night that Hamas must be destroyed in order for Israelis to exist peacefully and said he values the lives of innocent Palestinian children as much as he does innocent Israeli children. The Democrat has taken heat from the party’s left flank for his staunch support of Israel in media and public appearances.

Phillip brought up accusations Israel has committed war crimes in Gaza following the Oct. 7 terrorist attack. 

“Do you believe that anything that Israel has done in these six weeks of fighting has amounted to a war crime?” she asked.

“Of course not. Of course not,” Fetterman said. “And it’s like, let’s not forget what Hamas started. They broke the first cease-fire, and then they attacked Israel and murdered over 1,200 innocent, women, children, babies, everything, and brutalized it in the most unspeakable kinds of ways.”

“And so… this is absolutely an unequivocal attack to destroy Israel and we must remember that’s [what] started all of this.”