Israel: Lifting blockade on Gaza 'not in plan currently'

Israel at present has no plan to lift the blockade it imposed on Gaza, home to around 2.3 million Palestinians, following Hamas’ attacks against the country over the weekend.

Esty Buzgan, deputy chief of mission at the Israel Embassy in Manila, thus said when asked about the appeal of the United Nations and human rights groups for Israel to lift the blockade.

The call was made for the delivery of aid to Gaza residents, including food, water, and electricity supply.

“If we open, with what’s happening, we are going to have more terrorists in Israel and we cannot allow that,” Buzgan told reporters in an online news conference.

Israel has imposed a total blockade following Hamas’ offensives over the weekend which left at least 260 people dead, including women and children.

Hamas also took hostages during the same attack that was launched in 15 different areas via air, land, and sea.

“Hamas does not care about their own people. They go to people’s houses and ask them to go to the border and explode yourself. Hamas is not Palestine," Buzgan said.

"There are good people there, but Hamas is abusing not only the Jews but also abusing its own people,” she added.

“It is not an option. I am very sorry that Hamas does not take care of its people, does not supply them with basic needs and infrastructure as they should do, but unfortunately, no, it is not in the plan currently," Buzgan said.

"We have to make sure we don’t have any more breachers and we don’t have more terror attacks in our country. So, no,” she added.

'Wrong message'

Palestine Ambassador to the Philippines Saleh Mohammad on Thursday said world leaders who expressed support to Israel amid its conflict with Palestinian militant group Hamas gave a "wrong message" to Israel, which later on resulted in a "massacre" in the Gaza Strip.

Mohammad, in an interview on GMA News’ Unang Balita, thus called on the international community to review their message of support to Israel.

"My appeal to the international community, including international world leaders, who gave a wrong message to Israel in the beginning, just on Saturday and Sunday, that they understand the right and they support the right of Israel to defend itself," Mohammad said.

"Yes, okay, they were right, but see the wrongly read message resulted in a massacre, in a genocide,” he added.

"This is just like a hidden agenda — it’s an ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people from Gaza. So, please review this message. Look at those people who are getting killed. They are innocent people,” Mohammad said.

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. said Wednesday that the Philippines stands with Israel following the deadly attacks by Hamas.

Marcos gave the assurance after Israeli Ambassador Ilan Fluss met him in Malacañang to discuss the latest situation in Israel.

'Steadfast, united support'

Two Filipinos were killed following in the armed conflict in Israel, while another Filipino fatality is still being confirmed through DNA testing, the Philippine Embassy in Israel said.

Aside from the Philippines, leaders of US, Germany, Britain, France, and Italy also issued a joint statement on Monday condemning the attacks on Israel by Hamas and expressed their "steadfast and united support" for Israel.

Buzgan then said that Israel is determined to eradicate Hamas and that bombings and other offensives in Gaza are underway to ensure that Hamas won’t commit the same atrocities again.

“Israel will not stop until it has stopped Hamas from what they are doing. In order to destroy them, you have to destroy the infrastructure that lets Hamas work, that lets Hamas plan those awful acts. They use people as human shields, they hide in ambulances, mosques, schools, and hospitals,” Buzgan pointed out.

“This is a war between Israel and Hamas, and we reacted just like any country would. You know what this means with the Marawi siege [of Maute terrorists] in 2017. You know exactly what it is. We will not let it pass. We won’t let anyone harm us, our children, our families. We will defend our population,” she added.

'We knock on roofs'

Asked if Israel has measures to spare civilians in going after the terror group, Buzgan noted that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) send a warning before launching airstrikes on what she identified as Hamas infrastructure.

“We have mechanisms, we knock on roofs, send flyers and warnings to say this infrastructure is going to be bombed, so go away from those infrastructure. This is going to be massive. If you know someone there, tell them to go away," she said.

“We cannot let this [Hamas attack] happen again,” she added. —NB, GMA Integrated News