Israeli President Isaac Herzog said Palestinian civilians in Gaza were "responsible" for the Saturday attack by Hamas.
"It is an entire nation out there that is responsible. It’s not true this rhetoric about civilians [being] not aware, not involved. It’s absolutely not true," Herzog said Friday. "They could have risen up, they could have fought against that evil regime which took over Gaza in a coup d’état."
"I agree there are many innocent Palestinians who don't agree with this, but if you have a missile in your goddamn kitchen and you want to shoot it at me, am I allowed to defend myself? We have to defend ourselves, we have the full right to do so," he added.
The Israeli president made the comments while calling for over 1 million people in northern Gaza to evacuate in 24 hours. The evacuation was first announced to Gaza residents via leaflets from the Israel Defense Forces.
"Civilians of Gaza City, evacuate south for your own safety and the safety of your families and distance yourself from Hamas terrorists who are using you as human shields," the leaflets read. "This evacuation is for your own safety. You will be able to return to Gaza City only when another announcement permitting it is made."
Hamas has told people in Gaza to ignore the evacuation order.
“Israel is removing Palestinians from their homes and lands for a second time, and we have responded to the Zionist crimes by targeting them and Ben Gurion,” Abu Obaida, spokesperson of Hamas' Al-Qassam Brigades, said. "Displacement and exile are not for us, Israel is carrying out psychological warfare through the threats and their dark history, which shows they carry out crimes and killings as a form of collective punishment."
The United Nations has called the evacuation "impossible," due to the large number of people asked to leave the area, according to CNN. John Kirby, the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, called the evacuation a "tall order."
“We understand what they're trying to do: They're trying to move civilians out of harm's way and giving them fair warning. Now it's a tall order. It's a million people and very urban, dense environment. It's already a combat zone. So I don't think anybody's underestimating the challenge here of effecting that evacuation,” Kirby told CNN.
The war between Hamas and Israel started on Saturday when Hamas soldiers attacked Israel from Gaza. Hamas killed over 1,000 people and took over 100 hostages in that attack, according to NPR. Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization by many countries including the U.S., Israel and those in the European Union. Since the beginning of the war, Israel says Hamas killed 1,300 people. The Palestinian health ministry reports 1,800 killed in Gaza.
Did anyone expect him to say anything else? After decades of Israel stealing Palestinian land, Israel finally got their opening for all out genocide of Palestinians. Coincidence? Hardly likely.
This is why I find it very hard to believe that the Hamas attack truly caught them off guard. They have one of the best intelligence agencies in the world and they DIDN'T know it was coming? And there's reports that they were warned ahead of time? Seems fishy to me
Yeah... no. You shouldn't overestimate these intelligence agencies. The Nazis never got wind of the Warsaw Uprising and the US never got wind of the Tet offensive... they are simply not that infallible.
The whole problem with this theory is that Israel has gone to great lengths to "stabilize" the imprisonment of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank in the hopes of normalizing the situation even further - a very important requirement for Israel's attempts to normalize relations with it's neighbours. That's what their precious "Security Barrier" was all about. That "stability" is now shattered - probably forever - and so are their hopes of getting Arabic nations permanently on their side. That's why the US is suddenly shifting carrier groups into the area - this could be the beginning of the end of the current status quo, and the US knows that.