Benjamin Netanyahu, President of Israel has claimed “about 90 percent of Hamas’s budget comes from Iran” in a public address today. He added: “I cannot say they were involved in micro-planning of the October 7 attack but they are part of the axis of evil.”
He added: “We have to win against Hamas because it’s our existence, but it’s affecting all of the western civilization.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said there is no “direct evidence” that Iran was involved in Hamas’s attack on Israel. He told NBC: “Iran has had a long relationship with Hamas. Hamas wouldn’t be Hamas without the support over many, many years from Iran.
“And so, we know that. We see that. When it comes to this specific attack, at this moment, we don’t have direct evidence that Iran was involved in the attack, either in planning it or carrying it out.”
Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement today was made as he strongly denied accusations that his army committed war crimes during the intense bombing of the Gaza Strip.
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Israel has warned civilians to leave Gaza “immediately” as a “new phase” of war begins. IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said: “For your immediate safety, we urge all residents of northern Gaza and Gaza City to temporarily relocate south.”
Today, Netanyahu said: “Anyone who dares accuse our troops of committing war crimes are people who are completely hypocritical; liars who don’t have an inkling of morality. The IDF is the most moral and ethical military in the world, it is doing everything it can to in order to prevent harming those who are uninvolved.”
He also warned non-combatants to move further south and accused their enemy of using residents as human shields. He added: “Once again I call on those non-combatants to go further south. Now, the cynicism of our enemy knows no bounds. It is conducting war crimes as it uses the residents of Gaza as human shields and hospitals as headquarters for their terrorism activities and many people in the world know now what we have argued all these years – Israel is fighting not only its own war, but, rather, this is the war of humanity in its entirety. The human fight against barbarism.”
Mr. Netanyahu made it clear that the aim of the war was to completely eliminate Hamas and bring Israeli hostages home. He told his nation: “The goals of this war are very clear.”
The leader of the troops in Gaza said, “We want to retaliate” for attacks on our children and families. He believes it’s for the world’s good to get rid of the “evil” of Hamas with his “hero troops”.
Just yesterday, Israel’s ground forces entered Gaza and are now in the northern part of the strip, three weeks into the war.
