Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday blamed Gaza’s ruling Hamas organisation for all the civilian deaths in the ongoing conflict with Israel.
“Hamas is both targeting civilians, and hiding behind them. That’s a double war crime,” Netanyahu said talking to a foreign news channel.
Netanyahu said Hamas was using human shields to escalate the casualties in the conflict, while also targeting Israel’s civilian population. Israel has gone out of its way to avoid targeting civilians, he said, while Hamas has encouraged its civilian population to stay in place during Israeli attacks.
“We regret any civilian deaths, but those lay entirely at Hamas’ door. Hamas is deliberately targeting our civilians. They’ve fired 2000 rockets as Israel’s cities. 75 percent of our population has to be in bomb shelters,” Netanyahu said.
“All civilian deaths — as regrettable as they are — fall on their shoulders,” he said.