Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu Snubs Macron’s Call For Gaza Ceasefire

New Delhi: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected French President Emmanuel Macron’s appeal for Israel to stop attacking the civilians in Gaza, and said that Hamas is the one accountable for these deaths, not Israel, The Times of Israel reported. He also said that Israel is taking all possible measures to spare Gazan civilians, while Hamas is doing the opposite and stopping them from escaping to safe zones.

“Israel is doing everything to avoid harming civilians and urging them to leave combat zones, but Hamas-ISIS is doing everything to keep them in harm’s way and using them as human shields,” Netanyahu said in a statement. Israeli PM further said that Hamas is “inhumanely holding our hostages – women, children and the elderly – in a crime against humanity” and “using schools, mosques and hospitals as terror headquarters.”

He also warned that Hamas’s crimes in Gaza today will be replicated in other countries tomorrow, according to The Times of Israel. “Hamas-ISIS’s crimes in Gaza today will be repeated in Paris, New York and everywhere else in the world tomorrow. World leaders must denounce Hamas-ISIS and not Israel,” Netanyahu added.

According to reports, the IDF’s Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee on Friday posted on X, claiming that the rocket that struck Al-Shifa hospital in the Gaza Strip, killing and injuring many, was a result of a “botched launch by the terrorist groups that attempted to fire at Israel”, adding, “IDF systems show that rocket-propelled grenades hit the hospital.”

The IDF also provided an operational update saying that the 401st Brigade had killed around 150 terrorists and seized control over Hamas terrorist strongholds in northern Gaza. The targets included arms production site, launching stations and an underground network.

Meanwhile, on Friday, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Lior Haiat updated the death toll of last month’s Hamas attacks to nearly 1200, reported The Times of Israel. Israel has updated the death toll of last month’s Hamas attacks from 1400 to about 1,200, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lior Haiat tells The Times of Israel. However, he declined to give the reason for the revised death toll.