After his Canadian counterpart urged the nation to follow the norms of war in Gaza, the prime minister retaliated.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, retaliated against Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada, who asked him to use the utmost caution in the continuing ground operation in Gaza.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) are occupying Al-Shifa, the largest hospital in the enclave, alleging that Hamas is using the facility as a hideout. In a post on X (previously Twitter) on Wednesday, Netanyahu placed the blame for the thousands of civilian casualties in Gaza on the Hamas group.
Netanyahu said, “Hamas beheaded, burned, and massacred civilians; it is not Israel that is deliberately targeting civilians.” He described Hamas’s acts on October 7 as the worst thing to happen to Jews since the Holocaust. Israel, he stressed, is making every effort to “keep civilians out of harm’s way.”
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Following Trudeau’s remarks on Tuesday, in which he said that “the price of justice cannot be the continued suffering of all Palestinian civilians,” Netanyahu responded with these remarks.
The prime minister of Canada continued, telling the Israeli government to “exercise maximum restraint” and adding, “Even wars have rules.”
“The killing of women, children, and babies is being witnessed by the entire world.” This needs to end.
Since Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on October 7, killing at least 1,200 and seizing over 200 prisoners, Israel’s campaign in Gaza has resulted in the deaths of over 11,000 people, many of them women and children, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Following this, the IDF launched a huge bombing campaign and ground operation on Gaza, cutting off its supply of food, water, gasoline, energy, and other necessities.
During earlier discussions between the two leaders, Trudeau stated that Canada fully supports Israel’s right to self-defense. However, it appears that some of Israel’s most ardent supporters have softened their positions in response to the thousands of civilian deaths that have resulted from the IDF operation in Gaza and the large-scale protests that have been occurring worldwide. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last week that “far too many Palestinians have been killed,” and he urged the suffering and deaths to be kept to a minimum.
