“October 7 was a wake-up call for Israel. “Reality shattered our beliefs”: interview with Israeli President Isaac Herzog

Israeli President Isaac Herzog defended his country’s military operations in the Gaza Strip in an interview with BBC international correspondent Lyse Doucet.

Herzog stressed that Israel is “very focused” on reducing civilian casualties in the conflict.

Asked about the UN data that almost 70% of the more than 8,000 deaths in Gaza are women and children, he said that No one wants them to be the ones to pay the price of war..

He claimed that Israel was fighting “an implacable enemy that has committed horrific atrocities.”

On October 7, Hamas launched an unprecedented attack in southern Israel, killing approximately 1,400 people and taking more than 230 hostages.

We advise

Diego García, the small militarized British island in the Indian Ocean that became a ‘hell’ for dozens of stranded migrants

“Bullets fell like rain”: Saudi Arabia accused of mass murder of hundreds of migrants on Yemen border

Palestinian-Israeli conflict: “The two-state solution is a cliché invented by the West that does not take into account the real situation”

“It’s like entering Alcatraz”: first residents describe floating ship that will house 500 asylum seekers in Britain

Herzog stated that his country is obliged to destroy Hamas’ infrastructure.

He accused this Islamic organization – labeled terrorist by Britain and many other Western governments – of firing rockets from residential buildings.

Israel attacked, he asserted, when it perceived “terrorists trying to attack us or throw things against us”.

Israel’s Arab neighbors, including countries with which it has signed peace treaties, warned that rising civilian casualties in Gaza would push the region into a much wider conflict.

“We listen to them and respect them,” he stated, but clarified that “The first is that we have to take care of our citizens”.

“We help people on their way”

Asked about continued calls from Israel’s closest ally, the United States, for restraint, replied that the country is acting with restraint and that this is something that ‘cannot be measured in numbers’.

The Israeli president added that Israel is in daily contact with the US, Britain and other Western allies to send more humanitarian aid to Gaza.

The United States has announced that 100 trucks per day will soon be allowed to enter the Southern Strip through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

The UN, for its part, denounced that very little aid is reaching Gaza amid the “humanitarian catastrophe” its residents are suffering.

Herzog denied reports that Israel is still bombing southern Gazawhere the UN says more than a million Palestinians have fled after the Israeli government repeatedly warned them to leave the northern part of the enclave.

The Commissioner General of the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Middle East (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, announced that “nowhere is safe in Gaza.”

“Frankly, the designated zone in the south is a safe area,” said Herzog, who denied UN reports of attacks even on his facilities there.

“We operated according to the rules of international law by asking people to leave for the safe zone, we gave them warnings and helped them move”, he assured.

When asked about Israeli airstrikes near hospitals in Gaza, the president emphasized that the hospitals themselves are not under attack.

Regarding the more than 200 hostages of numerous nationalities held by Hamas, Herzog asserted that the main priority for Israel, but also for the international community, take them back home.

“The most difficult encounters of my life”

However, he indicated that Israel has not yet seen a real proposal worth considering in the intensive negotiations mediated by Qatar.

Diplomats with access to information about the negotiations told the BBC last week that they had made progress until Israel expanded its ground operations.

Herzog described his encounters with the hostages’ families as “the most difficult encounters I have ever had in my life.”

And he spoke of Israel’s deep trauma.

“My nation is in great pain; The people of Israel are in deep pain which is unprecedented, we are in mourning. “We are a different nation in many ways, at least right now,” he said.

This also affects the way Israelis see the future, he said.

And he assured that “right now in Israel the psychological and emotional debate about how to proceed is very strong.”

“October 7 was a wake-up call for Israel. Reality has shattered our beliefs. When we saw these atrocities, we asked ourselves: can we trust anyone?,” he said. (JO)