Israel has no intention of escalating the situation at the Gaza Strip, but when approaches are made with deadly weapons, steps must be taken for self-protection, Danny Danon, Israel's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, said Tuesday.
"We have no intention of escalation," Danon told Fox News' "America's Newsroom."
"When somebody is approaching the fence with explosives and Molotov cocktails we have to protect ourselves. Whether they try to break the fence. If they break the fence, they will storm the communities."
More than 50 Palestinians were killed and over 1,200 wounded by Israeli gunfire amid mass protests Monday, while the United States opened its new embassy in Jerusalem and recognized it as the capital of Israel.
The Israeli government said troops were defending its border, while accusing Hamas militants of trying to attack under the cover of the protest. U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley told the U.N. Security Council Tuesday that Israel was facing Hamas extremists who incited people who lobbed flaming objects toward the Israeli side of the border fence and urged protest marchers to breach it.
Danon also laid the blame on Hamas for the deaths.
"They are using civilians and sending them to the fence and targeting Israeli civilians," said Danon. "Our interest is not to see any casualties, but they have the interest to see more casualties."
Hamas wants the talk to be about the casualties, he added.
"That is exactly what they want to do," said Danon. "Instead of us speaking about the great move of the embassy they wanted everybody to speak about the casualties and using those children, innocent people as human shields in order to create riots."
The embassy, though, is "an excuse," said Danon adding that he feels bad for the people of Gaza.
"[Hamas] will find a reason for violence," he said. "They will find a reason for escalation. I want to remind you in 2005 we pulled out of Gaza completely. You don't have any Jewish communities. We took off. The people of Gaza are being held hostage by Hamas."
He noted that last week, a checkpoint where humanitarian aid was brought from Israel into Gaza was set on fire, so even that has had to stop.
"I think the international community should condemn Hamas today and not Israel," he told the program.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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