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On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched an intense defense of the Israeli aggression in Gaza, saying that it was “justified” and “proportionate”. He also blamed Hamas for the civilian death toll in Gaza.
“I think it was justified. I think it was proportionate and that doesn’t in any way take away the deep regret we have for the loss of a single civilian casualty”, he said at a press conference, responding to a question a CNN journalist had asked.
He added it would have been unreasonable to not “defend your people and giving the terrorists a license to kill”.
His remarks were his first public comments since the 72-hour ceasefire began on Tuesday. He spoke to foreign and local journalists, and said that Hamas was to blame for the civilian casualties and heavy destruction.
“The tragedy of Gaza is that is it ruled by Hamas”, he said.
During Operation Protective Edge, 1,875 Palestinians were killed, including 243 women and 430 children. In comparison, 67 Israelis have been killed, 64 of whom were soldiers.
Netanyahu also said that if Israel not defending itself from Hamas rocket fire would have been a “mistake”.
“If this were to happen, more and more civilians will die around the world because this is a testing period.Can a terrorist organization fire thousands of rockets at the cities of a democracy?” he said.
He also urged the international community, which has been very critical of Israel’s action in the Palestinian enclave, to ostracize Hamas “for its callous abuse of civilians”.
“Every civilian casualty is a tragedy, a tragedy of Hamas’s own making”, he said.
Netanyahu also said that Israel was co-operating with the Palestinian Authority regarding a permanent truce deal.
“We are cooperating with them and we are prepared to see a role for them.It is important in the reconstruction of Gaza, assuring the humanitarian aid and also the security questions that arise that we have these discussions and cooperation.In fact the ceasefire was coordinated among other things with them”, he said.