On Monday’s edition of NBC’s “MTP Now,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) said that “Israel is even jeopardizing its own ability to eradicate and destroy the threat that Hamas represents by being responsible and understanding that they want to make sure that they can minimize civilian casualties as much as they can” before launching a Rafah incursion and “Hamas prevents, intentionally, a lot of” civilians “from moving, because they use their own people as human shields.”
After viewing video of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying that people move, Wasserman Schultz said, “There are four battalions in Rafah of Hamas fighters, Hamas combatants, and that appears to be near the last stages of the war. And Israel is committed, as the Prime Minister told us, to making sure that the civilians in Rafah are moved out of harm’s way, that Israel was going to — as they have throughout this war — and as they always do, take the time and the effort, comprehensively, to get as many civilians out of harm’s way. But keep in mind, that Hamas prevents, intentionally, a lot of them from moving, because they use their own people as human shields.”
She added that while it isn’t as simple as people just moving, “Israel is even jeopardizing its own ability to eradicate and destroy the threat that Hamas represents by being responsible and understanding that they want to make sure that they can minimize civilian casualties as much as they can, all while Hamas prevents them from doing that, because they don’t care about their own people. And so, that process of getting people out of harm’s way, to the maximum extent possible, would take some time before, my understanding, a Rafah operation would begin.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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