By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has responded to French President Emmanuel Macron’s comment on Israel killing civilians in Gaza, urging the French leader to denounce activities of Hamas not Israel’s response.
In his interview to BBC released earlier on Friday, Macron said: “De facto – today, civilians are bombed – de facto. These babies, these ladies, these old people are bombed and killed. So, there is no reason for that and no legitimacy. So, we do urge Israel to stop.”
Netanyahu however insists that it could be the turn of any part of the world tomorrow to harvest from the atrocious crimes of Hamas.
“The crimes being committed today by Hamas – ISIS in Gaza will be committed tomorrow in Paris, New York and all over the world. The leaders of the world should be condemning Hamas – ISIS, not Israel.”
He said, “It must be remembered that Israel entered the war due to that terrorist organisation’s brutal murder of hundreds of Israelis and holding hostage more than 200 Israelis.”
He added that “While Israel does everything in its power to avoid harming civilians and urges them to leave the battle areas, Hamas – ISIS is doing all it can to prevent them from moving to safe areas and uses them as human shields.”
Macron had last month arrived Tel Aviv where he expressed his country’s “full solidarity” with Israel following the war sparked by an October 7 deadly attacks by Palestinian militant group Hamas in Israeli territory.
During the visit, Macron called for the “preservation of the civilian population” in Gaza, amid Israel’s relentless bombardment.
He sought for a “humanitarian truce” to allow desperately needed aid into Gaza, whose 2.4 million people were largely deprived of water, food, electricity and other basic supplies.
