Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has urged Israel to “exercise maximum restraint” in its war against Gaza.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called on Israel to stop “killing babies,” sparking a furious response from his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trudeau said Tuesday that “the killing of women, children and babies” in the besieged Gaza Strip must stop. Netanyahu hit back, insisting that Hamas is responsible for civilian deaths as Israeli forces continue to strike the enclave.
“I urge the Israeli government to exercise maximum restraint,” Trudeau said in his most vocal criticism of Israel since the outbreak of the war on Gaza more than five weeks ago. “The world is watching, on television and on social media – we hear testimonies from doctors, from family members, from survivors, from children who have lost their parents.
“The world is witnessing this murder of women, children and babies. This must stop,” he said at a news conference in the western province of British Columbia.
In an article on since the Holocaust. »
“The forces of civilization must support Israel to defeat the barbarity of Hamas,” Netanyahu continued.
It is not Israel that deliberately targets civilians, but Hamas that has beheaded, burned and massacred civilians in the worst horrors perpetrated against Jews since the Holocaust.
While Israel does everything to keep civilians out of danger, Hamas does…
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) November 15, 2023
Canada has argued that Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas after the Palestinian group attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people.
But he also expressed growing concern over the rising death toll in the battered and besieged enclave, where more than 11,200 Palestinians have been killed by Israel since the conflict began.
“The price of justice cannot be the continued suffering of all Palestinian civilians,” Trudeau said Tuesday. “All wars have rules. All innocent life has the same value. Israelis and Palestinians. »
About 350 Canadian citizens, permanent residents and members of their families were evacuated from Gaza, he added.
The Canadian leader also called on Hamas to stop using civilians as human shields and to release all the hostages it took on October 7 “immediately and unconditionally.”
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On Wednesday, Israeli soldiers attacked al-Shifa hospital, which they have been attacking for several days. Thousands of patients and displaced Palestinians are trapped inside, including dozens of premature babies fighting for their lives.
International rights groups said Israeli attacks on hospitals “should be investigated as war crimes.”
Last week, Trudeau called for a significant humanitarian pause in the conflict to allow the release of all hostages and the delivery of sufficient aid to meet the needs of civilians in Gaza.