Parolin went on to say that “at the same time” the Holy See has requested “that Israel’s right to defense that was invoked to justify this operation be proportionate … and certainly with 30,000 deaths it is not.”
“I believe we are all outraged by what is happening, by this carnage, but we must have the courage to move forward and not lose hope,” Parolin said, adding that “we must find other ways to solve the problem of Gaza, the problem of Palestine.”
“It is a deplorable statement,” the Israeli embassy responded in a Feb. 14 statement. “Judging the legitimacy of a war without taking into account all relevant circumstances and data inevitably leads to erroneous conclusions.”
“Gaza has been transformed by Hamas into the largest terrorist base ever seen,” the embassy argued. “There is almost no civilian infrastructure that has not been used by Hamas for its criminal plans, including hospitals, schools, places of worship, and many others.”
“Gaza civilians also actively participated in the Oct. 7 unprovoked invasion of Israeli territory, killing, raping, and taking civilians hostage,” the statement continued. “All these acts are defined as war crimes.”
The embassy argued that “in stark contrast” to the Hamas assault, “IDF operations are conducted in full compliance with international law.”
The embassy’s press release also addressed the issue of civilian deaths, indicating that in the case of the IDF, “for every Hamas militant killed, three civilians lost their lives,” which contrasts favorably with “past wars and operations of NATO forces or Western forces in Syria, Iraq, or Afghanistan … the proportion was nine or 10 civilians for every terrorist.”
“Any objective observer,” the embassy said, “cannot help but come to the conclusion that the responsibility for the death and destruction in Gaza lies with Hamas and Hamas alone.”
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