Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza as Netanyahu continues to lie: Opposition leader

By Zein Khalil

JERUSALEM (AA) – Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of persistently lying and evading responsibility while Israeli soldiers are being killed in the Gaza Strip.

“Netanyahu is doing what he has been doing throughout his life: incitement, lying, and producing hatred,” Lapid said on social media platform X.

“Now, he (Netanyahu) is doing it only amid a bitter war where soldiers are killed every day,” he added.

Lapid said while Israeli soldiers are being killed in Gaza, “Netanyahu has once again invented disputes with the US, with me, and with [war cabinet ministers] Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot.”

Netanyahu opposes US efforts to allow the Palestinian Authority to govern the Gaza Strip following the end of the ongoing Israeli war on the blockaded territory.

Washington, for its part, argues that there must be a Palestinian authority or government in Gaza in the post-war period.

Israel has bombarded the Gaza Strip from the air and land, imposed a siege and mounted a ground offensive in retaliation for a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7.

At least 18,608 Palestinians have been killed and 50,594 injured in the Israeli onslaught since then, according to Gaza’s health authorities.

The Israeli death toll in the Hamas attack stood at 1,200, while around 139 hostages remained in captivity, according to official figures.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio