Israeli President Isaac Herzog asserted in a recent press conference that the entire Gaza population bears responsibility for the attacks perpetrated by Hamas.

“We are operating militarily according to rules of international law, period, unequivocally. It’s an entire nation out there that is responsible. It’s not true this rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved, it’s absolutely not true,” he said.

“They could have risen up. They could have fought against that evil regime which overtook Gaza in a coup d’état, but we’re at war. We are at war,” he continued.

“We’re defending our homes. We’re protecting our homes. That’s the truth. And when a nation protects its home, it fights. And we will fight until we break their backbone,” he added.

WATCH:

“But when asked about the bombardment of Gaza and the humanitarian situation of civilians, his sadness turned to anger,” stated an itv News report.

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“What can Israel do to alleviate the impact of this conflict on two million civilians, many of whom have nothing to do with Hamas?” a reporter asked.

The Gateway Pundit shared the footage:

Herzog’s comments were extremely controversial.

War Clandestine posted:

GENOCIDE ALERT

Israeli President, Isaac Herzog, says the quiet part out loud!

He claims Israel are operating under international law, because the “entire nation” of Palestine “is responsible”.

“This rhetoric that civilians are not aware, not informed, it’s absolutely not true. They could have risen up, they could have fought against that evil regime.”

HOLY S**T… Israel are comfortable slaughtering civilians because they, quite literally, according to their President, view the Palestinian civilians as military combatants who are also responsible for the Hamas attacks. Israel says Palestinian civilians don’t exist…

Let me say that again. The Israeli President just blamed 5+ million civilians, half of which are children, for the Hamas attacks, and feels it’s their fault and they are worthy to be exterminated…

Folks… this is a genocide.

I can now say, unequivocally, that I not only do not support Israel, but denounce them fully. I still denounce Hamas fully, and all acts of violence against civilians, but what Israel are doing is genocide.

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“But listening to your answers in the last few minutes, I’m a little confused because on one hand you say that Israel abides by the rules of war and is very careful to avoid the loss of civilian life in the Gaza strip, but at the same time you seem to hold the people of Gaza responsible for not trying to remove Hamas,” Matt Frei from the United Kingdom’s Channel 4 News commented.

“My question is this, if I may, you seem to hold the people of Gaza, civilians of Gaza, responsible for not removing Hamas, therefore by implication that makes them legitimate targets,” he said.

“No, I didn’t say that,” Herzog replied.

“I want to make it clear, I was asked something about separating civilians from Hamas, but with all due respect, with all due respect, if you have a missile in your god d*** kitchen and you want to shoot it at me, am I allowed to defend myself? Yes,” Herzog said.

Watch the exchange:

ITV reports:

He acknowledged that many Gazans had nothing to do with Hamas but was adamant that others did.

“I agree there are many innocent Palestinians who don’t agree with this, but if you have a missile in your godd*** kitchen and you want to shoot it at me, am I allowed to defend myself. We have to defend ourselves, we have the full right to do so.”

It’s only 10 miles from the heart of Jerusalem where President Herzog made those direct, emphatic, even angry remarks, to the Palestinian controlled city of Ramallah in the West Bank.

I was there to speak to Hanan Ashwari, who, for 30 years she was a peace negotiator with Israel on behalf of the Palestinian Authority. I asked her for her reaction to President Herzog’s comments.

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“I think the Israelis are totally flustered, disorganised and they don’t know what to do with an emerging situation.

“Until now, they really haven’t pulled their act together and they don’t have a question of real policy and what to do in the future. They’re in shock, they want revenge.”

“Matters are very tense and feelings are high and all of us are traumatised, I personally could not even bear to look at what’s happening in Gaza and to see all the children pulled out of the rubble.

“When you have 1,200 or 1,300 people killed and more than two thirds of them are women and children, is this getting Hamas, is this killing Hamas?

“They want to turn Gaza into rubble? What will they get? Will they get any kind of resolution?

“They have to come to terms with the Palestinians, we are not going away, we are not going to die, we are not going to exile ourselves and we are not going to accept to be held captive forever.”

The Israel Defense Forces issued an announcement for approximately 1.1 million Gazans to evacuate to the southern area of the strip.

“The Israeli Ministry of Defense and the IDF notified the UN just before midnight local time that Palestinians living north of Wadi Gaza should evacuate to the southern part of the Gaza Strip in the next 24 hours, according to UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric and another source with direct knowledge,” Axios reports.

In total, that’s approximately 1.1 million civilians told to evacuate their homes within 24 hours.

It remains unclear what action the Israeli military will take and if Gaza civilians receive the message and can evacuate in the given timeframe.

According to CBS News, the Israeli military dropped leaflets on the northern Gaza strip telling them to evacuate to its southern half.

From CBS News:

Israeli military aircraft dropped thousands of leaflets on the northern Gaza Strip Friday warning residents in that part of the Palestinian territory to evacuate to its southern half. The Israeli military informed the United Nations late Thursday night that the entire population in northern Gaza should evacuate south almost immediately.

Stephane Dujarric, a U.N. spokesperson, told CBS News that liaison officers with the Israel Defense Forces informed the U.N. just before midnight Gaza time Thursday that the entire population north of Wadi Gaza should “relocate to southern Gaza within the next 24 hours.”

According to the U.N., about 1.1. million people live in northern Gaza, the most densely populated part of the territory.

The U.N. “considers it impossible for such a movement to take place without devastating humanitarian consequences,” Dujarric said, and it “strongly appeals for any such order, if confirmed, to be rescinded avoiding what could transform what is already a tragedy into a calamitous situation.”

The U.N. response “to Israel’s early warning to the residents of Gaza,” Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan said, was “shameful” and ignores the brutality of the attack on Israel.

Early Friday local time, the IDF ordered Gaza City’s hundreds of thousands of residents to move farther south in the Gaza Strip for their “own safety.”

According to social media posts, Hamas is telling civilians to ignore the warnings and remain in their homes.

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The terrorist group reportedly is not assisting civilians evacuate.

There have also been reports of Hamas blocking civilian evacuation routes.

Newsweek added:

Aid organizations have already warned of a worsening crisis in the region after Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant ordered a “complete siege” of Gaza, including the cutting off of water, food and energy supplies.

Several have now said the mass movement was not feasible under the current circumstances, which have seen the Israeli Air Force launch intensive air strikes on targets in the Palestinian exclave after last weekend’s attacks.

Around 1,500 Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants staged armed assaults on Israel on Saturday, including the killing of civilians. Israel subsequently launched its heaviest-ever airstrikes on Gaza. As of Friday, at least 1,300 people had been killed in Israel and 1,530 people killed in Gaza, according to the AP.

Some 423,000 people are thought to have been displaced by the air strikes, the U.N. said on Thursday. The IDF has been warning civilians in areas about to be hit to leave and has said Hamas houses military targets within civilian populations.

There are multiple reports of an Israeli airstrike hitting a civilian convoy heeding the warning and evacuating northern Gaza.

According to those reports, at least 70 Palestinians were killed and 200 others injured from the airstrike.

Turkish-state media outlet Anadolu Ajansi reports:

At least 70 Palestinians were killed and 200 others injured in an Israeli airstrike on a convoy of displaced civilians heading from northern Gaza to south, according to the Gaza-based Interior Ministry.

Iyad Al-Buzm, an Interior Ministry spokesman, told Al Jazeera that the convoy was targeted as around 150 civilians were making their way through Salah Aldin Street in Al-Zeytoun neighborhood.

Al-Buzm said that despite Israeli calls to find refuge in the southern region of the Gaza Strip, the bombings are still heard throughout the strip.

Earlier, Israel warned Palestinians in northern Gaza to move to the south “within 24 hours.”

In a dramatic escalation of Middle East tensions, Israeli forces launched a sustained and forceful military campaign against the Gaza Strip, a response to a military offensive by the Palestinian group Hamas in Israeli territories.

TRT World noted:

At least 70 Palestinians were killed and 200 others injured in an Israeli airstrike on a convoy of displaced civilians heading from northern Gaza to south, according to the Gaza-based Palestinian Interior Ministry.

Iyad al Buzm, an Interior Ministry spokesman, told Al Jazeera that the convoy was targeted as around 150 civilians were making their way through Salah Aldin Street in the Al Zeytoun neighbourhood.

Al Buzm said that despite Israeli calls to find refuge in the southern part of Gaza, the bombings are still heard throughout the blockaded region.

According to the Associated Press, the target of the airstrike remains unclear.

Per AP:

Hamas officials say that 70 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on convoys fleeing Gaza City.

Hamas’ media office says the cars were struck in three places as they headed south from Gaza City. It was not immediately clear who the target of the airstrikes was, or whether militants were among the passengers.

The army ordered residents to evacuate the city early Friday ahead of an expected ground invasion.

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