Victor EzejaIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that with what is happening his government’s ultimate goal is to crush the Hamas terrorist group so that future civil administration in the Gaza Strip would not see the need to encourage any act that leads to breading terrorists.
Mr Netanyahu, who spoke on Sunday night, slammed the Palestinian Authority for denying that Hamas was responsible for the 7 October killings of hundreds of people that attended a music festival in Israel.
His address was in response to a statement issued by the Palestinian authority which blamed “Israeli helicopter” for the death of hundreds of participants of the Supernova music festival near kibbutz Re’im in the southern part of the country which is about 5.3 kilometres from Gaza.
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“Today, the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah said something utterly preposterous. It denied that it was Hamas that carried out the horrible massacre at the nature festival near Gaza. It actually accused Israel of carrying out that massacre. This is a complete reversal of truth,” part of Netanyahu said in a statement posted on his X page.
Netanyahu said the denial of Hama’s responsibility for the massacre by Palestinian Prime Minister, Mahmoud Abbas also known by the kunya Abu Mazen, who is known for denying the Holocaust, is “unacceptable.”
“My goal is that the day after we destroy Hamas, any future civil administration in Gaza does not deny the massacre, does not educate its children to become terrorists, does not pay for terrorists, and does not tell its children that their ultimate goal in life is to see the destruction and dissolution of the State of Israel. That’s not acceptable and that is not the way to achieve peace,” Netanyahu vowed.
The claim by the Palestinian Authority seems to have referenced a report published in the Israeli daily Haaretz, which claimed that an IDF helicopter had unintentionally struck festival attendees while shooting at terrorists.
Though the report quoted senior Israeli security officers, it, however, did not state that all of the massacre’s fatalities were caused by the helicopters.
Israel has since the October 7 surprise attack that led to the killing of 1,200 people at the music festival and over 200 taken hostage, declared war on Hamas in Gaza.
The air and land onslaught in Gaza has claimed the lives of over 13,000 Palestinians, with the UN estimating that women and children make up 70% of the dead. Additionally, there have been persistent attacks on schools, hospitals, and refugee communities.
Macron Reminds Netanyahu of Ceasefire as Many Casualties Recorded
Meanwhile, as the war rages, French President, Emmanuel Macron, has reminded Netanyahu of the “absolute necessity to distinguish terrorists from the population” and “the importance of achieving an immediate humanitarian truce leading to a ceasefire,” because of “too many civilian losses” in Gaza.
The call was contained in a statement from Macron’s office on Sunday.
Macron also expressed concern over the escalation of violence against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank and called for calm.
The French president also spoke to the Palestinian Prime Minister, whose government controls the West Bank about the need to condemn the October 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel.
He said: “There is a need for the Palestinian Authority and all countries in the region to unequivocally and with the greatest firmness condemn the terrorist attack carried out by Hamas in Israel on October 7.”
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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