Ron DeSantis is offering an unambiguous take on the Israel-Hamas war and civilian casualties on the Gaza Strip.
“Israel is telling people in the Gaza Strip to leave the areas that they’re telling them they’re going to go in and conduct operations on,” DeSantis said Saturday. “Hamas is telling those people to stay so that they’re used as human shields.”
“That is Hamas’ fault if they’re killed,” he added. “It is not Israel’s fault if they are killed.”
DeSantis made the comments during a town hall event in Council Bluffs, Iowa, which was hosted by his supportive Never Back Down super PAC.
The Governor, who made seven stops in Iowa on Saturday, has made a strong defense of the Israeli position central to those remarks. As he had already said on Saturday, he told Council Bluffs supporters that he did not want people from Gaza brought to this country, and drew parallels between security gaps at the Mexican border and issues in the Middle East.
CNN reports a total of 29 confirmed American deaths in the wake of Hamas’ attacks last weekend and the subsequent Israeli response, with 16 American citizens and residents still missing.
Meanwhile, 1,300 Israelis are confirmed dead, with 150 more taken hostage by Hamas. And 2,000 Palestinians have also perished since Hamas escalated hostilities with their attacks on Israeli civilians earlier this month.
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