Liberman/Military
© Shahar Levi/Defense MinistryDefense Minister Avigdor Liberman and military personnel
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman on Monday said every Palestinian killed by Israel in the Gaza Strip in the past four and a half months was a member of the Hamas terrorist group, apparently including a number of women and children in his overview of the fatalities.

The defense minister also said the next round of fighting with Hamas was a matter of "when," rather than "if." The current violence has largely subsided since Thursday under a de facto ceasefire agreement.

"Since the start of the 'March of Return' events, Hamas has sustained 168 deaths, 4,348 injured and dozens of terror facilities destroyed," Liberman said, referring to a series of organized protests and clashes along the Gaza border.

A spokesperson for the defense minister's office confirmed to The Times of Israel that Liberman's intention was to state that all 168 people killed were Hamas members.


Comment: An incredulous statement that even The Times of Israel had to verify.


Since March, there have been near-weekly violent protests along the Israel-Gaza border supported by Gaza's Hamas rulers, as well as rocket and mortar attacks on Israel and retaliatory IDF airstrikes. The deadly border clashes have seen Israeli security forces facing gunfire, grenades, Molotov cocktails, and efforts - sometimes successful - to damage or penetrate the border fence. Last month, an Israeli soldier was killed by a sniper.

The Israeli military has never said that everyone killed in clashes and riots along the border were members of Hamas. Senior officers have noted that while most of the fatalities were members of Hamas and other terror groups, many of the deaths were not deliberate, but were the result of shots that missed their mark and other unintended consequences of using live fire.

The defense minister did not indicate how he arrived at the figures he cited on Monday. The number of people killed matches that of the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry. The number of people injured is slightly lower than the current Palestinian-supplied toll, but is the same as a figure released by the health ministry earlier this month.

Hamas has acknowledged that dozens of the fatalities were its members or belonged to other Gaza terror groups.

However, Gaza's health ministry also includes in its list of casualties a 23-year-old pregnant woman and her 18-month-old daughter who Palestinian officials say were killed in an Israeli airstrike during last week's flareup. Three Palestinian medics have also been reported killed, including 21-year-old female medic Razan al-Najjar.

The Israeli government rarely releases official tallies of the number of Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip.

Soon after the start of the March of Return protests, too, Liberman had indicated that everyone killed was a member of the Hamas terror group.

"It has to be understood that there are no innocent people in Gaza," Liberman said in an April radio interview. "Everyone is affiliated with Hamas, they are all paid by Hamas, and all the activists trying to challenge us and breach the border are operatives of its military wing."

A statement later released by the Defense Ministry said "innocent" was the wrong translation: "The defense minister in the interview meant the word tamim (naive). Any other translation is mistaken."

Next round of fighting a matter of 'when' not 'if'

In a statement released to the press following a meeting with senior military officers in the IDF Southern Command, Liberman on Monday also said Israel was certain to have a next round of fighting with the Hamas terrorist group in the Gaza Strip, following last week's large-scale flareup, in which rockets and mortar shells rained down on southern Israel and the military responded with extensive airstrikes in the Palestinian enclave.

"The question of the next round of fighting is not an 'if,' but a 'when.' I am sure that we will do what we must, how we must," Liberman said.

The defense minister also responded to recent criticism - including from mayors and council heads in southern Israeli areas near Gaza - that said the Israel Defense Forces should have kept up its attacks on Hamas, which rules Gaza, in light of the repeated rocket and mortar attacks on Wednesday and Thursday, rather than accept a ceasefire.

Israel officially denies that it has agreed to an Egyptian- and UN-brokered ceasefire, though in the days since the flareup, no rockets and mortars have been fired from Gaza and the IDF has conducted no airstrikes, indicating a de facto understanding even if no formal deal was signed.
"We are implementing a responsible and forceful security policy. A responsible security policy is not a response - not to online commenters, not to newspaper headlines and not to public opinion. We are prepared and know what to do and how to do it," Liberman said, speaking at the Gaza Division headquarters on the Re'im Military Base.
Liberman's visit to the Gaza Division on Monday came a day after the top-level security cabinet met to discuss the ongoing violence in the Strip and the military and diplomatic options available to address it. The meeting ended with no announcements or details released.

Senior Israeli officials have said that "quiet will be met by quiet," implying that the country is not seeking an escalation of violence, but has not openly committed to an end to hostilities. Instead, military officials hope the terror group has internalized the damage Israel can cause to its infrastructure.