{"id":19681,"date":"2024-05-28T12:47:21","date_gmt":"2024-05-28T12:47:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/28\/netanyahu-responds-to-strike-that-killed-hamas-terror-leaders-civilians-investigating-the-incident\/"},"modified":"2024-05-28T12:47:21","modified_gmt":"2024-05-28T12:47:21","slug":"netanyahu-responds-to-strike-that-killed-hamas-terror-leaders-civilians-investigating-the-incident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/28\/netanyahu-responds-to-strike-that-killed-hamas-terror-leaders-civilians-investigating-the-incident\/","title":{"rendered":"Netanyahu responds to strike that killed Hamas terror leaders, civilians: \u2018Investigating the incident\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

JERUSALEM \u2013 Israeli\u00a0Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his nation\u2019s military on Monday flatly refuted claims that the country\u2019s air force aimed to harm civilians in its strike that eliminated two senior Hamas terrorist leaders on Sunday, the same day Hamas launched its most recent barrage of missiles into densely populated areas of Israel.<\/p>\n

There are mixed reports about the number of civilians killed in the Rafah strike. The Hamas-run health ministry claimed at least 45 people died, and other outlets have quoted up to 50 deaths.<\/p>\n

According to Reuters in a speech to the Israeli parliament on Monday, Netanyahu said, \u2018In Rafah, we already evacuated about one million non-combatants residents and despite our upmost effort not to harm non-combatants, something unfortunately went tragically wrong. We are investigating the incident and will reach conclusions because this is our policy.\u2019<\/p>\n

A statement released by a spokesman for the Biden administration\u2019s National Security Council on Monday said, \u2018The devastating images following an IDF strike in Rafah last night that killed dozens of innocent Palestinians\u00a0are\u00a0heartbreaking.\u2019<\/p>\n

The statement continued, \u2018Israel has a right to go after Hamas,\u00a0and we understand this strike killed two senior Hamas terrorists who are responsible for attacks against Israeli civilians. But\u00a0as we\u2019ve\u00a0been clear,\u00a0Israel\u00a0must\u00a0take\u00a0every precaution possible to protect\u00a0civilians. We are actively engaging the IDF and partners on the ground to assess what happened,\u00a0and understand that the IDF is conducting an investigation.\u2019<\/p>\n

Hamas does not differentiate between civilians and terrorists. Fox News Digital reported in March that an Ivy League statistician argued that\u00a0Hamas\u2019 death toll numbers are not trustworthy.<\/p>\n

\u2018Before the strike, a number of steps were taken to reduce the risk of harming uninvolved civilians during the strike, including conducting aerial surveillance, the deployment of precise munitions by the IAF, and additional intelligence information. Based on these measures, it was assessed that there would be no expected harm to uninvolved civilians,\u2019 said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) statement, which added, \u2018In addition, the strike did not occur in the Humanitarian Area in Al-Mawasi, to which the IDF has encouraged civilians to evacuate.\u2019<\/p>\n

The IDF\u2019s statement continued, \u2018The incident is under the investigation of the General Staff\u2019s Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism, which is an independent body responsible for examining exceptional incidents in combat. The General Staff\u2019s Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism is investigating the circumstances of the deaths of civilians in the area of the strike. The IDF regrets any harm to uninvolved civilians during combat.\u2019<\/p>\n

The military advocate general, Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, directed the General Staff\u2019s Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism to investigate the strike carried out in Rafah, noted the IDF statement.<\/p>\n

Hamas said in a statement that the terrorist organization sought to hit Israel\u2019s Mediterranean metropolis: \u2018We fired a large salvo at Tel Aviv in response to the Zionist massacres of civilians.\u2019<\/p>\n

The EU and U.S.-designated terrorist movement Hamas has for over a decade launched rockets at civilians in Israel, triggering a series of mini-wars with the Jewish state.<\/p>\n

According to the IDF, \u2018Yesterday, IAF aircraft conducted an intelligence-based strike in the area of Rafah against significant terror targets, including senior terrorists in Hamas\u2019 Judea and Samaria Wing who directed terror attacks in Judea and Samaria and carried out murderous attacks against Israeli civilians.\u2019<\/p>\n

The IDF added, \u2018The strike was carried out based on prior intelligence information regarding the presence of the senior Hamas terrorists at the site of the strike.\u2019<\/p>\n

The\u00a0two Hamas leaders killed\u00a0\u00a0were Yassin Rabia, the commander of Hamas\u2019 leadership in Judea and Samaria (the biblical name for the West Bank), and\u00a0Khaled Nagar, a senior official in Hamas who oversaw the Judea and Samaria wing.<\/p>\n

The IDF statement, with a possible view toward alleged Hamas propaganda, also said,\u00a0\u2018Claims that the strike was conducted using seven munitions weighing a ton are false. The strike was conducted using two munitions with a reduced warhead aimed specifically for a strike of these types of targets.\u2019<\/p>\n

Tor Wennesland, the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, condemned the strike in a statement issued Monday. \u2018I condemn last night\u2019s Israeli airstrikes which hit tents for displaced people in the southern Gaza city of Rafah and have tragically led to the reported loss of more than 35 Palestinian lives, including women and children, and dozens of injuries.\u2019<\/p>\n

He continued, \u2018While the IDF said it struck a Hamas installation and killed two senior Hamas militants in the strikes, I am deeply troubled by the deaths of so many women and children in an area where people have sought shelter.\u2019<\/p>\n

IDF spokesman Peter Lerner took to X to debunk a Hamas source who appeared in media reports to inflate the number of casualties and claimed the strike unfolded in the humanitarian area.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lerner wrote, \u2018Muhammad Abu Hani, quoted is a Hamas official. He appears to be the source of the widely reported claim that the IAF targeted the humanitarian zone. Is he also the source of the reports from the same \u2018civil defense\u2019 of 50 people killed in the strike? A number published by many of the world media. Fact: The strike never took place in the designated humanitarian zone.\u2019<\/p>\n

Reuters contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JERUSALEM \u2013 Israeli\u00a0Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his nation\u2019s military on Monday flatly refuted claims that the country\u2019s air force aimed to harm civilians in its strike that eliminated two senior Hamas terrorist leaders on Sunday, the same day Hamas launched its most recent barrage of missiles into densely populated areas of Israel. There are <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":19682,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-19681","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}