ASIATODAY.ID, JAKARTA – The Palestinian fighting group, Hamas, criticized the opportunity given to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address the United States (US) Congress.
“Netanyahu should be arrested as a war criminal and handed over to the ICC, instead of being given the opportunity to burnish his image before the world and cover up the mass murder and ethnic cleansing in Gaza,” Hamas said in a statement on Thursday.
Netanyahu delivered a speech before the US Congress on Wednesday, where nearly half of the Democratic lawmakers in the House and Senate walked out in protest against Israel’s war and crimes in the Gaza Strip.
“Netanyahu’s speech reflects the depth of the military, security and international crisis that he is trying to cover up in public by justifying the defeats suffered by his army in Gaza,” Hamas said.
Hamas accused Netanyahu of trying to claim false victories, such as the release of several hostages, while ignoring the “horrific massacre” carried out against civilians in Rafah and Nuseirat.
Netanyahu arrived in the US on Monday and is scheduled to meet with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday. He will also meet with former President Donald Trump in Florida on Friday, before returning to Israel.
Ignoring a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid continued brutal attacks on Gaza, since the Hamas attack on October 7 last year.
Nearly 39,200 Palestinians were killed and more than 90,400 injured, according to local health authorities. In the nine months following the Israeli attack, much of Gaza was devastated amid crises of food, clean water and medicine.
Israel was accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its military operations in Rafah, in southern Gaza, where more than a million Palestinians sought refuge from war before the city was attacked on May 6. (ANT)
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