Ofer Cassif says he warned the situation would \u2018erupt\u2019 if Israel did not change its treatment of Palestinians
\nGaza
\nAn Israeli lawmaker has told Al Jazeera that his party warned about events like Saturday\u2019s Hamas attack on Israel if the country\u2019s government continued its illegal occupation of Palestinian lands.
\nHamas launched a multipronged assault at dawn on Saturday with thousands of rockets fired at Israel, and the Gaza-based group\u2019s fighters infiltrating Israeli towns and illegal settlements.
\nThe attack left at least 600 Israelis dead, including dozens of soldiers, with bodies strewn on roads. Meanwhile, at least 313 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,700 others wounded in Israeli bombardments of the besieged Gaza enclave.
\nOfer Cassif, a member of the Knesset and leftist Hadash coalition, said he warned the situation would \u201cerupt\u201d if the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not change its policies towards Palestinians. Hadash has four seats in the 120-member Knesset.
\n\u201cWe condemn and oppose any assault on innocent civilians. But in contrast to the Israeli government that means that we oppose any assault on Palestinian civilians as well. We must analyse those terrible incidents [the attacks] in the right context \u2013 and that is the ongoing occupation,\u201d Cassif said.
\n\u201cWe have been warning time and time again\u2026 everything is going to erupt and everybody is going to pay a price \u2013 mainly innocent civilians on both sides. And unfortunately, that is exactly what happened,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cThe Israeli government, which is a fascist government, supports, encourages, and leads pogroms against the Palestinians. There is an ethnic cleansing going on. It was obvious the writing was on the wall, written in the blood of the Palestinians \u2013 and unfortunately now Israelis as well,\u201d he added.
\nMore than 20,000 Palestinians have left Gaza\u2019s border region to head further inside the Hamas-controlled territory to seek refuge in UN schools, according to UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees.
\nPreviously, conflicts between Israel and Hamas resulted in extensive devastation in Gaza and days of rocket attacks on Israeli towns. The current escalation appears to be even more precarious than normal, as Israel\u2019s far-right government grapples with the unprecedented security breach, while Palestinians are mired in despair due to the ongoing occupation in the West Bank and the suffocating blockade in Gaza.
\n\u201cThe only thing Netanyahu cares about is not the well-being of the citizens of Israel, let alone of Palestinians in the occupied territories,\u201d Cassif said. \u201cHe is interested in surviving. He just wants to stay out of prison. That is the only motivation and incentive that drives [him].\u201d
\nNetanyahu is facing numerous legal troubles at home with the country\u2019s attorney general filing several charges against him, including fraud, breach of trust, and corruption. The Israeli leader has strongly denied the charges.
\nThe latest escalation raises the prospect of a broader regional conflict. On Sunday, Hezbollah, a powerful armed group backed by Iran, said it had launched guided rockets and artillery onto three posts in Shebaa Farms \u201cin solidarity\u201d with the Palestinian people.
\nShebaa Farms, which is claimed by Lebanon, was captured by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War.
\nThe Israeli military said on Sunday it fired artillery into an area of Lebanon from where cross-border mortar fire was launched. Israel\u2019s military said one of its drones struck a Hezbollah post in the area of Har Dov, an area in Shebaa Farms.
\n\u201cI\u2019m afraid that some of the elements like Hezbollah are going to join this war. I hope not, of course. Indeed, for the sake of all people, of all civilians, Palestinians and Israelis alike, I hope that that this is going to end as soon as possible,\u201d Cassif said, adding that \u201cthe only way to stop the bloodshed of both peoples is to put an end to the occupation\u201d.
\nOn Sunday, an Egyptian policeman opened fire on tourists in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, killing at least two Israeli nationals and one Egyptian, according to local media reports.
\nExtra News television channel, which has close ties to Egyptian security agencies, quoted an unidentified security official as saying that another person was wounded in the attack at an Israeli tour group in Pompey\u2019s Pillar site in Alexandria.
\n\u201cThis morning during a visit of Israeli tourists in Alexandria, Egypt, a local opened fire at them, murdering two Israeli citizens and their Egyptian guide,\u201d Israel\u2019s foreign ministry said in a statement.
\n\u201cIn addition, there is a wounded Israeli in moderate condition,\u201d the statement added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ofer Cassif says he warned the situation would \u2018erupt\u2019 if Israel did not change its treatment of Palestinians Gaza An Israeli lawmaker has told Al Jazeera that his party warned about events like Saturday\u2019s Hamas attack on Israel if the country\u2019s government continued its illegal occupation of Palestinian lands. Hamas launched a multipronged assault at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360370,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-360352","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n