The health ministry in Gaza says the massive Israeli offensive since October 7 has killed at least 28,064 people, mostly women and children.But Netanyahu asserted on ABC that the civilian toll, as a share of total deaths, was dramatically smaller.”I can tell you that according to these urban warfare experts and other commentators, we’ve brought down the civilian-to-terrorist casualty, the ratio, down to below 1-to-1 … And we’re going to do more.”He said Israeli forces had “killed and wounded over 20,000 Hamas terrorists, out of that, about 12,000… fighters.” Netanyahu did not specify how he differentiated “terrorists” and “fighters.”Israel last provided such figures on January 9, when it said that around 9,000 Hamas fighters had been killed.Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.In early January, the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said it had “repeatedly highlighted Israel’s recurring failures to uphold the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law: distinction, proportionality, and precautions in carrying out attacks.”US President Joe Biden, in his strongest criticism of Israel yet, on Thursday described the Israeli military response as “over the top.”Netanyahu told ABC News he appreciated Biden’s “support for Israel since the beginning of the war,” but that he did not “know exactly what he meant by that.”
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