Israel summons Spain, Belgium envoys over Gaza comments
Visiting the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt on Friday, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said the "operation needs to respect international humanitarian law" and denounced the destruction in the Gaza Strip as "unacceptable".
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez echoed his views, saying the "indiscriminate killings of innocent civilians" in the Palestinian territory was "completely unacceptable".
Both leaders called for a permanent ceasefire in the war-battered territory.
Foreign Minister Eli Cohen "gave the order to summon the ambassadors of these countries for a harsh rebuke", his office said in a statement, accusing the two leaders of supporting "terrorism".
In a separate statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he "strongly" condemned the comments by the European leaders.
The statement released by his office blamed them for not placing "total responsibility on Hamas for the crimes against humanity it perpetrated: massacring Israeli citizens and using Palestinians as human shields".
The move came on the first day of a four-day truce between Israel and the Palestinian militants in Gaza following nearly seven weeks of relentless war.
Hamas broke through Gaza's militarised border with Israel on October 7 to kill about 1,200 people and seize around 240 Israeli and foreign hostages, according to Israeli officials.
Israel has vowed to "crush" Hamas in response and unleashed a withering military campaign that Gaza's Hamas government says has killed nearly 15,000 people in the coastal territory.
On Friday, Hamas handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza a total of 24 hostages -- 13 Israelis, 10 Thais and one Filipino -- according to Qatar, which mediated the truce agreement.
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