Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is responsible for the calamitous situation in the besieged Gaza Strip claiming Israel is working to ease conditions in the enclave in order to prevent an escalation.
“We don’t want this situation – let’s call it ‘slow-burning’ – will go on” he said at a press conference in Jerusalem. “On the other hand they are suffocating. How did this situation come about? Because Abbas suffocates them and then they lash out.”
“There are attempts to reach a practical solution for him to stop this suffocating” Netanyahu added. “I am trying to find a solution that will restore quiet and security I am not interested in getting into needless wars.”
“We are trying to bring about a solution that will restore quiet and security for the communities near the Gaza border” he said. “We regularly act to prevent casualties… because of our actions there is some caution I would say on the Palestinians side – and I think that they too understand that if a conflict erupts here the price they will pay will be very high” he said.
Speaking at a joint press conference in Jerusalem on Thursday after holding talks with visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel Netanyahu accused Abbas of “choking” the Gaza Strip by withholding funds to the coastal enclave and warned of “very difficult consequences” as a result of the PA policy.
“In the last year Abbas has made the situation in Gaza more difficult by choking off the flow of funds from the Palestinian Authority to Gaza” he added.
He also accused the PA leader of obstructing UN efforts to aid the Gaza Strip.
“Abbas has interfered in all UN attempts to ease the plight in Gaza including now and… many countries today I can say that even the donor countries are condemning him for this and rightly so” Netanyahu said.
“On the other hand if Hamas thinks that as a result of this plight it can attack Israel – it will be making a very major mistake” said Netanyahu. “Our response will be harsh very harsh. I hope that it is possible to halt this strangulation but I also reiterate that Israel will act with all necessary strength to defend itself and its citizens.”
More than 50 years of occupation and 11 years of blockade have made the lives of 2 million Palestinians living inside the Gaza Strip unbearable and turned the enclave into the world’s largest open-air prison.
