Israeli President Isaac Herzog said Palestinian civilians in Gaza were “responsible” for the Saturday attack by Hamas.
“It is an entire nation out there that is responsible. It’s not true this rhetoric about civilians [being] not aware, not involved. It’s absolutely not true,” Herzog said Friday. “They could have risen up, they could have fought against that evil regime which took over Gaza in a coup d’état.”
“I agree there are many innocent Palestinians who don’t agree with this, but if you have a missile in your goddamn kitchen and you want to shoot it at me, am I allowed to defend myself? We have to defend ourselves, we have the full right to do so,” he added.
The Israeli president made the comments while calling for over 1 million people in northern Gaza to evacuate in 24 hours. The evacuation was first announced to Gaza residents via leaflets from the Israel Defense Forces.
“Civilians of Gaza City, evacuate south for your own safety and the safety of your families and distance yourself from Hamas terrorists who are using you as human shields,” the leaflets read. “This evacuation is for your own safety. You will be able to return to Gaza City only when another announcement permitting it is made.”
Hamas has told people in Gaza to ignore the evacuation order.
“Israel is removing Palestinians from their homes and lands for a second time, and we have responded to the Zionist crimes by targeting them and Ben Gurion,” Abu Obaida, spokesperson of Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades, said. “Displacement and exile are not for us, Israel is carrying out psychological warfare through the threats and their dark history, which shows they carry out crimes and killings as a form of collective punishment.”
The United Nations has called the evacuation “impossible,” due to the large number of people asked to leave the area, according to CNN. John Kirby, the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, called the evacuation a “tall order.”
“We understand what they’re trying to do: They’re trying to move civilians out of harm’s way and giving them fair warning. Now it’s a tall order. It’s a million people and very urban, dense environment. It’s already a combat zone. So I don’t think anybody’s underestimating the challenge here of effecting that evacuation,” Kirby told CNN.
The war between Hamas and Israel started on Saturday when Hamas soldiers attacked Israel from Gaza. Hamas killed over 1,000 people and took over 100 hostages in that attack, according to NPR. Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization by many countries including the U.S., Israel and those in the European Union. Since the beginning of the war, Israel says Hamas killed 1,300 people. The Palestinian health ministry reports 1,800 killed in Gaza.
You heard him, 1 million children are responsible for the attack. Fuck Israel. Israelis are the ones responsible for the attack. You reap what you sow.
I don’t agree with killing civilians but you are right. What did they think would happen when they blockade a whole city and oppress the people? They build illegal settlements that is by condemned by the international community.
The thing that annoys me the most is that when Palestinians are killed we don’t hear that much about it. And now the Israelis are killing thousands of most likely innocent people. But I will give it to the israelis I do understand their anger towards Hamas but not all the Palestinians, most of them are just civilians trying to live their lifes…
They thought they could do whatever they want and any retaliation would be a golden ticket to massacre Palestinians.
And they are correct. Nobody is going to stand in their way. Nobody is going to offer anything more than ‘condemnation.’
That sort of reasoning works both ways. Israel’s response to Hamas, (the elected government of Gaza,) murdering hundreds of their civilians is also unsurprising. What did they think would happen when they lost every conflict, refuse to negotiate for peace, and continue to launch bloody attacks against civilians of a state they can’t possibly defeat militarily?
While they still exist around Jerusalem and the West Bank, Israel dismantled their settlements in Gaza when they unilaterally left in '05.
Right right. I would hope that most sensible people think all of the mass killing is terrible, and that those responsible should all be held accountable, such as is even possible.