The Israeli military is doing everything it can to keep civilians out of harm’s way in its war in Gaza, but its attempts to minimize casualties are “not working,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
The Israeli leader’s comments came after US broadcaster CBS News asked him on Thursday whether the killing of thousands of Palestinians in retaliation for the October 7 Hamas attack would fuel hatred in a new generation.
“Every civilian death is a tragedy. And we shouldn’t have any because we are doing everything we can to keep civilians out of danger, while Hamas is doing everything to keep them in danger,” Netanyahu said.
“So, we send leaflets, (we) call them on their cell phones, and we tell them: ‘go’. And many have left,” Netanyahu said.
The same day, the Israeli Air Force dropped leaflets in parts of southern Gaza asking people to evacuate for their own safety.
It was unclear where they were supposed to evacuate as Israel continues to wage war across the besieged territory.
A few weeks earlier, Israel had also dropped leaflets in northern Gaza warning civilians to move south.
Hundreds of thousands of people have done so, part of a massive displacement that many Palestinians fear will become permanent.
Israel has declared that the aim of its military campaign is to destroy Hamas.
“The other thing I can say is that we will try to complete this job with minimal civilian casualties. That’s what we’re trying to do: minimize civilian casualties. But unfortunately we are not succeeding,” said the Israeli Prime Minister.
Netanyahu then said he wanted to draw a parallel with something related to Germany, but was interrupted by the CBS interviewer, who asked him a question about Gaza’s security after the war.
Palestinian civilians bore the brunt of Israel’s weeks-long military campaign in response to the Hamas attack that Israel says killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
Hamas also captured around 240 people of different nationalities, according to Israel.
On Friday, the Israeli military said it had recovered the body of one of the captives, a female soldier, from a building near Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, which became the main target of the Israeli attack this week .
The soldier’s death was confirmed Tuesday after Hamas released a video of her alive, followed by images of what the group presented as her body after she was killed in an Israeli airstrike.
The Israeli military claimed to have found a tunnel shaft used by Hamas at al-Shifa hospital. A video, which could not immediately be verified, showed a deep hole in the ground, surrounded by rubble, wood and sand.
It appears that the area has been searched; a bulldozer appeared in the background.
The army said its troops also found a vehicle in the hospital containing a large number of weapons.
Hamas said in a statement late Thursday that claims by the Pentagon and the U.S. State Department that the group uses al-Shifa for military purposes “are a repetition of a blatantly false narrative, demonstrated by the weak performance and ridiculous comments from the spokesperson of the occupying army.” .
The United States is confident in its own intelligence agencies’ assessment of Hamas activities at al-Shifa hospital and will not share or expand on it, White House spokesman John Kirby.
Protected by law
Human Rights Watch said hospitals receive special protections under international humanitarian law.
“Hospitals only lose these protections if it can be demonstrated that harmful acts were committed from the premises,” said Louis Charbonneau, director of the U.N. watchdog.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, on his first visit to Israel since the October 7 Hamas attack, called on Israel to do more to protect civilians in Gaza.
“I understand your rage, but let me ask you not to let your rage consume you,” Borrell said.
Gaza health authorities, deemed reliable by the United Nations, say at least 11,500 people have been killed in an Israeli bombing and ground invasion – including more than 4,700 children.
Two-thirds of the Gaza Strip’s 2.3 million residents have been left homeless by the war.
