North American Defense Chief Lloyd Austin accused Hamas on Friday of taking evil to a level higher than that of the Islamic State group, but called for professionalism and discipline of the Israeli armed forces.
“The Israeli Defense Forces are professional, disciplined and focused on the right issues. We expect the same from them as in the past. They are well managed and we expect them to be disciplined,” Austin said in Tel Aviv.
With his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, at his side, whom he met, Austin alluded to the ongoing counter-offensive in the Gaza Strip, the Hamas-controlled territory home to 2.3 million Palestinians.
“Democracies like ours are stronger and safer when we respect the laws of war,” Austin said, as quoted by the French agency AFP.
The counter-offensive followed the unprecedented attack on Israel a week ago by the Palestinian Islamist group, which killed 1,300 and led to bombing of Gaza that left 1,500 dead.
Austin, who also met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, deplored the extreme brutality of Hamas militias and compared them to Islamic State.
“I organized the military campaign against the Islamic State, I know a lot about the Islamic State and what I saw is worse than the Islamic State,” Austin said, as quoted by the Spanish agency Europa Press.
Austin was referring to the Islamic jihadist group, also known by its Arabic acronym Daesh, which has been found responsible for several terrorist attacks in different parts of the world and the beheadings of prisoners in the 2010s.
Israeli authorities released images of the Hamas attack to authorities in other countries, including the head of US diplomacy, Antony Blinken, who became emotional as he referred to photos of baby corpses.
One photo shows the bloodied body of a child in a body bag and another shows the charred human remains of what appears to be two babies, according to images already released on social media.
“This vision goes beyond what we can imagine for anyone,” Blinken said Thursday, adding that “the world is seeing new evidence of (…) Hamas’s inhumanity (…) against babies, young children, adults, elderly people, people with disabilities”.
Lloyd Austin supported the United States’ support for Israel, also voiced by Blinken and President Joe Biden.
“The United States is supporting Israel, which is not negotiable and never will be,” he said.
Yoav Gallant did not respond when asked whether the Israeli Defense Forces will give civilians just 24 hours to leave Gaza as announced today.
However, he stated that those who want to be saved must “go south.”
“Israel has never and will never deliberately shoot civilians. Never,” Gallant said, according to the American news agency AP.
The defense minister added that Hamas militants will camouflage themselves among the population and Israel will have to separate them.
Austin also said that “this is a time of determination rather than revenge, of purpose rather than panic, and of security rather than surrender.”
The UN said the Israeli forces’ ultimatum involves the displacement of more than a million people, about half the population of the Gaza Strip, which covers just 365 square kilometers.
Source: DN
