Obama Tiptoes on Israel-Hamas War, Talks About Oct 7 Attack, Also ‘What’s Happening to Palestinians’ – News18

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Last Updated: November 05, 2023, 12:21 IST

Washington D.C., United States of America (USA)

Former US President Barack Obama warned the Israeli government against ignoring the civilian casualties in Palestine’s Gaza Strip. (Image: Reuters)

What Hamas did was horrific and what is also true is that the occupation, and what is happening to Palestinians, is unbearable, according to Obama

Tip-toeing on the month-old war between Israel and Hamas, former US president Barack Obama urged people to “take in the whole truth” as the Middle East conflict continues to intensify in Gaza. “If there’s any chance of us being able to act constructively, to do something, it will require an admission of complexity,” Obama said on a panel hosted by the Pod Save America podcast.

“That what Hamas did was horrific and there’s no justification for it, and what is also true is that the occupation, and what is happening to Palestinians, is unbearable,” he added. Obama drew parallels between the Holocaust and “the madness of antisemitism” with the fact that “there are people right now who are dying, who had nothing to do with what Hamas did.”

Obama: “What Hamas did was horrific, and there is no justification for it. And what is also true is that the occupation, and what’s happening to Palestinians, is unbearable…“You have to admit that all of us are complicit to some degree.” pic.twitter.com/FtAGFAexz1

— Yonah Lieberman (@YonahLieberman) November 4, 2023

‘Whole Truth’

“If you want to solve the problem, then you have to take in the whole truth,” he said. “And then you have to admit nobody’s hands are clean, that all of us are complicit to some degree.” Gaza, a 25-mile-long strip of land that is home to 2.3 million people, has been ruled politically since 2007 by Hamas but faces a blockade from Israel. Obama unsuccessfully sought to broker a peace deal in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

“All of this is taking place against the backdrop of decades of failure to achieve a durable peace for both Israelis and Palestinians. …I look at this and I think back, What could I have done during my presidency, to move this forward? as hard as I tried. I’ve got the scars to prove it,” he added. His remarks come as the Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Hamas war reached 9,448, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. In the West Bank, more than 140 Palestinians have been killed in violence and Israeli raids.

More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, most of them in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that started the fighting, and 242 hostages were taken from Israel into Gaza by the militant group. Roughly 1,100 people have left the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing since Wednesday under an apparent agreement among the United States, Egypt, Israel and Qatar, which mediates with Hamas.

(With agency inputs)