Israel accuses Paris, London, and Ottawa of encouraging Hamas' 'mass murderers'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Paris, London, and Ottawa on Thursday night of encouraging "Hamas mass murderers" to fight endlessly after the three capitals denounced his government's "outrageous actions" in Gaza.

The joint statement released Monday by French President Emmanuel Macron, and British and Canadian Prime Ministers Keir Starmer and Mark Carney shows that they "want Israel to lower its arms and accept that Hamas' army of mass murderers survives, reorganizes, and repeats the Oct. 7 massacre over and over," Netanyahu states in a video in English.

With this statement, "these three leaders said in reality that they want Hamas to stay in power," the Israeli prime minister asserts.

They "may think they are advancing peace. But no. They are encouraging Hamas to continue fighting forever" and "they give them the hope of establishing a second Palestinian state from which Hamas will once again seek to destroy the Jewish state," he adds.

While recognizing Israel's right to "defend itself" against "terrorism" and demanding "that Hamas immediately release the last hostages it has cruelly held since Oct. 7, 2023," Macron, Starmer, and Carney warned on Monday that they would not "stand idly by" in the face of the Israeli government's "outrageous actions" in Gaza.

"We strongly oppose the expansion of Israeli military operations in Gaza," they affirmed, judging the "level of human suffering [...] intolerable" in the Gaza Strip.

"If Israel does not end the new military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete measures in response," they threatened without additional details, adding they are "determined to recognize a Palestinian state as a contribution to achieving a lasting peace solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.