World leaders' support to Israel gave wrong message, resulted in genocide —Palestine envoy

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

"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,” he added.

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.

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.

Hamas launched its biggest attack on Israel in years on Saturday, firing rockets and deploying gunmen to several towns, prompting the Israeli government to issue a state of war alert.

Israel launched retaliatory strikes on Gaza, with the death toll on both sides having exceeded a thousand and still continuing to rise. —KBK, GMA Integrated News