Netanyahu adviser Mark Regev says Hamas should really ‘think twice’ in advance of breaking stop-hearth

Mark Regev, a senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, warned Hamas Sunday to “imagine 2 times” right before potentially restarting violence right after the two sides came to a stop-hearth this 7 days that finished 11 days of violence. 

Israel, late very last week, introduced that it experienced come to a stop-fireplace settlement with Hamas that set an end to 11 times of fighting in which Hamas fired thousands of rockets indiscriminately at Israeli civilian targets, to which Israel responded with bruising airstrikes. 

“In the long run, in the operation we gave Hamas a large blow,” Regev, who is Netanyahu’s chief spokesperson to global media, stated. “We dismantled a large section of their terrorist-military services equipment. We took out component of their management. We hit their command and manage. With any luck , they will think twice even a few situations ahead of they strike at Israel once again.”

The fighting resulted in extra than 200 deaths, primarily in Gaza. 

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Regev also expressed some hope for lasting peace, referencing “above a 50 % a decade of relative peace and tranquil” right after a prior round of battling. 

“That is doable and I hope we can do that all over again,” he stated.

When asked no matter if the Israeli response was “proportionate,” to Hamas provocation, given the reality that quite a few more Gaza civilians died all through the preventing than Israelis, Regev accused Hamas of using civilians as “human shields.” 

“They ended up firing hundreds of rockets on our civilian populace. They were trying to murder our folks in their residences. We were being defending ourselves,” Regev mentioned. “They had been firing out of educational institutions. They had been firing out of constructed-up areas. They ended up firing out of properties, out of mosques, even out of playgrounds.”

Regev additional: “We tried… to hit the terrorists and not to see innocent men and women caught up in the crossfire. And when our target was to steer clear of civilian casualties, Hamas experienced essentially the precise reverse goal… They have been brutally abusing Gaza civilians as a human defend for their war machine. We know for a truth that a lot of of the casualties in this procedure were brought on by Hamas munitions. Almost 20% of their rockets fell small, landing in Gaza, killing Gaza civilians.”

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The violence also offered the to start with major check of the relationship between President Biden’s new administration and Netanyahu, and made a tense political difficulty in the United States. The White Property said this week that it was performing feverishly guiding the scenes to broker peace as the president at the same time reaffirmed the United States’ alliance with Israel and applied strain on the longstanding ally to make progress to a stop-hearth. 

Biden also walked a slender line balancing intercontinental assistance for Israel although also making an attempt not to alienate pro-Palestinian associates of his have Democratic Celebration at residence like Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich. She notably confronted Biden on an airport tarmac in Detroit and pressured the president to cease blocking the U.N. Stability Council stop-fireplace resolutions, and called Netanyahu “Apartheid-in-main” in a tweet accusing him of committing “war crimes.”

“The frustrating vast majority of the American people today stand with Israel, assistance Israel, are favorable in direction of Israel,” Regev mentioned when requested to respond to broadsides from Democrats like Tlaib and Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., both equally members of the still left-wing “Squad” in the Property. 

Regev also explained a the vast majority of Democrats and liberal Democrats aid Israel, with no citing the source of his polling facts. 

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“Of course they want to see peace. But Israel would like to see peace far too. We would enjoy to have peace with our Palestinian neighbors,” Regev reported. “People today want to have an understanding of — Hamas is not just Israel’s enemy. Hamas is the enemy of every person who desires to see peace and reconciliation in our portion of the world. They are a brutal jihadist terrorist team. No one particular should really make excuses for them.”

Responding to criticism from professional-Israel Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., in excess of an Israeli airstrike on a setting up that housed workplaces for the Associated Push, Regev reported that Hamas experienced an “elite scientific analysis device” in the exact creating and have been applying the journalists “as a human defend.” He also said no civilians were hurt in that certain strike. 

Element of Biden’s political tightrope walk involved creating general public phone calls for a cease-hearth even though obtaining his administration block U.N. resolutions calling for a cease-hearth, which would have been a big rebuke of Israel.

It can be not obvious how extensive the stop-fire could hold, with each sides professing victory and stating they will only “keep fireplace” as lengthy as the other side does. Israeli offensive and defensive potential are nevertheless in good condition. And Hamas is reportedly still boasting hundreds of rockets in its now-battered Gaza arsenals.

Fox News’ Greg Palkot and Caitlin McFall contributed to this report.