(MEMO) — An Israeli government minister has justified the killings in Gaza by Israeli occupation forces by calling Palestinians “Nazis”.

Israel’s Minister of Strategic Affairs, Gilad Erdan, reacted to the rising death toll in Gaza by saying that the number of deaths “did not indicate anything” because Palestinian protestors were “terrorists” following the orders of a “Nazi” like organisation.

למרות מספר ההרוגים יש לזכור ולהזכיר: לא מדובר בהפגנות. מדובר במחבלים של ארגון טרור שמסכנים את תושבי ישראל. שום מדינה לא תאפשר לארגון טרור לשלוח מחבלים לפרוץ לשטחה וכל האחריות על דמם רובצת על הנהגת החמאס, שברשעות נאצית אין סופית שופכים דם כדי להשכיח את כשלונם בניהול הרצועה.זו האמת — גלעד ארדן (@giladerdan1) May 14, 2018

Erdan referred to Palestinians as “Nazis” during his Twitter outburst defending Israel’s brutal killing of Palestinians. At the time of writing, 61 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 3,000 have been injured. Erdan, however, was unmoved. Defending the Israeli massacre, the Likud minister said:

“Despite the number of dead, we need to remember and remind: We’re not speaking about demonstrations. We’re talking about terrorists of a terrorist organisation who endanger Israeli residents. All responsibility for the bloodshed lies with the leaders of Hamas, who, with Nazi anger, endlessly shed blood to erase from people’s memories their own failures in the management of the Gaza Strip. Here it is, the truth”

“Israel does not wish to escalate and doesn’t want the death of residents of the Gaza Strip,” Erdan continued. “Those who want this are solely the leadership of the Hamas terrorist organisation, which uses a cynical and malicious use of bloodshed. The number of killed doesn’t indicate anything – just as the number of Nazis who died in the world war doesn’t make Nazism something you can explain or understand.”

Erdan’s comments appear to echo remarks made yesterday by the Labour Friends of Israel. The pro-Israel lobby group came under sharp criticism for blaming Palestinians for their own death.

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