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Israel’s government has rejected accusations that the Israeli military is doing too little to safeguard the civilian population in the Gaza Strip as it seeks to destroy Hamas.
“We will in parallel make the maximum effort to do two things: one — to differentiate between the terrorists who are our bitter enemy and the civilian population. We will do everything to safeguard that population,” Israeli government adviser Mark Regev said on Sunday.
“We will facilitate the entrance into Gaza of humanitarian support for the civilians of Gaza,” he added.
His comments come as international concern has been intensifying over the death toll in Gaza, which on Sunday reached more than 15,500, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.
Regev also said Hamas was exclusively to blame for the war in Gaza and for the resumption of hostilities following the cease-fire and was using residential areas, hospitals and mosques to hide its “military terror machine.”
His comments were backed up by US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby who said the White House believes Israel is “making an effort” to minimize civilian deaths in Gaza.
“We believe they have been receptive to our messages here of trying to minimize civilian casualties,” he told ABC’s “This Week”, including publishing an online a map of places where Gazans could go to find safety.
“There’s not a whole lot of modern militaries that would do that… to telegraph their punches in that way. So they are making an effort.”
Ron Dermer, Israel’s minister of strategic affairs, insisted on ABC that efforts to minimize civilian casualties were deliberate and “unprecedented.”
“If we wanted to do it fast,” he said, “we’d harm a lot more civilians,” he added.
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