Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria, Michael Freeman has expressed sympathy for the innocent souls that died in the war with Hamas.
The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel and took 251 others hostage
More than 68,000 people have been killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Speaking in Abuja on Sunday on the occasion commemorating the 2nd year memorial of the war, Freeman said:”Friends, as we remember the victims of October 7, we also express sympathy for the innocent Palestinians who have lost their lives in this war—a war Israel never wanted, a war Israel never started – a war that was forced upon us.
“We grieve for every innocent soul, because we value life—all life.”
He insisted that they are not foreigners and neither did they colonise the land.
“We are not foreigners in Israel, we did not colonize the land of Israel; we returned to it. Jews have lived in Jerusalem, Tiberias, Hebron, Tsfat and every part of our land for over 3,000 years. Through exile and dispersion, we prayed toward Jerusalem, and we remembered Jerusalem at every wedding, every festival, and at every dinner table.
“We revived our language, planted forests, gathered exiles, welcomed survivors, and built a modern technology-based economy in a nation reborn.
“Israel was not created because of the Holocaust. It was created in spite of it.”
He stressed: “But Israel is not built on pity. Israel is built on courage, on faith, on history.
“And today, “Never Again” is not just a slogan. It is the Iron Dome that protects children in Sderot. It is the Israeli pilot in the sky. It is the 18-year-old girl in olive uniform, standing guard so that our children can sleep at night.”
He also expressed gratitude to President Donald Trump of the United States “for his steadfast support, his courage in recognizing truths others ignored, and his unique efforts in bringing our hostages home and helping to finally end this war.”
Highlights of the evening were virtual testimonies of survival of the October 7 2023 attack.
Meanwhile, after a week of ceasefire brokered by thr U.S President, Donald Trump both parties at the weekend resumed hostility leading to the death of 44 persons.
Israel however said it has “begun renewed enforcement” of the ceasefire, hours after carrying out a “wave of strikes” on Gaza, and both sides accused each other of breaching the deal
The IDF earlier said Hamas “fired an anti-tank missile and gunfire toward IDF troops” near Rafah, killing two – but the group says it is unaware of any clashes there
Hamas has said Israel “continues to breach the agreement”, while the IDF says the alleged attack by Hamas is a “bold violation of the ceasefire”
Hospital sources in Gaza say 44 people have been killed across the territory today
