The prime minister has fired back after his Canadian counterpart urged the country to adhere to the rules of war in Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pushed back against his Canadian counterpart, Justin Trudeau, who urged him to exercise maximum restraint in the ongoing ground operation in Gaza.
The biggest hospital in the enclave, Al-Shifa, has been stormed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which claimed that the complex was being used as a hideout by Hamas. Netanyahu blamed the militant group for the thousands of civilian deaths in Gaza in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday.
“It is not Israel that is deliberately targeting civilians but Hamas that beheaded, burned and massacred civilians,” Netanyahu said, calling the deadly Hamas incursion into Israel on October 7 the worst thing to happen to Jews since the Holocaust. He insisted that Israel is doing everything possible to “keep civilians out of harm’s way.”
Netanyahu was responding to a speech given by Trudeau on Tuesday, in which he stated that “the price of justice cannot be the continued suffering of all Palestinian civilians.”
“Even wars have rules,” the Canadian prime minister went on, urging the Israeli government to “exercise maximum restraint.”
“The world is witnessing this killing of women and children, of babies. This has to stop.”
At least 11,000 people, many of whom are women and children, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, have been killed as a result of Israel’s operation in Gaza since October 7, when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing at least 1,200 and taking over 200 hostages. It was after this that the IDF blockaded Gaza, preventing food, water, fuel, energy, and basic essentials from entering the enclave, and began a massive bombing and ground operation.
In previous talks between the two leaders, Trudeau expressed Canada’s full support for Israel and its right to defend itself. However, the thousands of civilian deaths resulting from the IDF operation in Gaza, and the massive demonstrations that have been taking place around the world appear to have led some of Israel’s staunch supporters to adopt a softer stance. Last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for the deaths and suffering to be minimized, saying, “far too many Palestinians have been killed.”
