Press statement of H.E. Ambassador of the State of Israel in Romania, Mr. Dan Ben-Eliezer, on developments related to Operation “Protective Edge”

Our neighbour offers ceasefire, but Hamas sticks to its fire

A window of opportunity was missed. Israel accepted yesterday (July, 15) the Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire in order for a sustained quiet to be achieved diplomatically. We hoped that it would allow civilians on both sides to return to normal life, but the proposal was answered with a barrage of missiles.

Israel shares the desire of the international community to restore calm and the interest of other moderate forces in the region in promoting stability, but the Egyptian brokered ceasefire, supported also by the Arab League, was strongly rejected by Hamas and the Islamic Jihad in Gaza. The Hamas Spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri stated that “the retaliations of the resistance will continue until we achieve all the demands of our people, and any unilateral Israeli cease-fire would be worthless", and the Hamas's armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, were quoted by Reuters saying "our battle with the enemy continues and will increase in ferocity and intensity".

No country in the world would sit idly by while its civilian population is subjected to terrorist rocket fire, and Israel is no exception. Therefore, we have no choice but to continue to defend our people from attacks by Hamas and other terrorist organisations.

Israel does its utmost to prevent harm to uninvolved civilians in Gaza, but responsibility for casualties lies on Hamas, which deliberately places the Palestinian people in the path of danger, exploiting them as human shields. In fact, many of Hamas' commanders use their own homes for military purposes – including weapons storage, command and control centers and military communications. Hamas officials encourage the local population to endanger their lives, by ignoring the IDF’s (Israeli Defense Forces) warnings and by asking them to stay in the targeted homes, as well as by urging those who left to come back immediately. These actions are war crimes.

To be mentioned that, despite the ongoing rocket fire, the flow of goods, medical equipment and fuels into the Gaza Strip continues. Moreover, Israeli hospitals that regularly provide medical care to patients from Gaza and the West Bank maintained their services. Also, a high-power line that carries electricity to Gaza from Israel on a daily basis, which was damaged by a Hamas rocket, causing a power outage to approximately 70,000 Gaza civilians, was restored on July 13th.

In the face of this constant bombardment, the people of Israel have shown great resilience. Their discipline in following civil defence instructions and the effectiveness of the Iron Dome missile defence system meant that there were few Israeli casualties. But the emotional and mental trauma affects millions of people.

Over 1000 missiles were launched at Israel from the Gaza Strip in the last eight days and, as long as this rocket fire goes on, we will extend Operation “Protective Edge”, to put an end to suffering on both sides and provide peace to the citizens of Israel, to which they are entitled.

Dan Ben-Eliezer

Ambassador

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