Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has addressed a joint session of the United States Congress as his country conducts a war on Gaza in which more than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed.
Netanyahu on Wednesday presented a defence of Israel’s war, launched on October 7, the day Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups carried out attacks on Israeli territory in which 1,139 people were killed.
The prime minister spoke of a plan for what he termed a “de-radicalised post-war Gaza” but offered few details beyond the assertion that Israel would retain security control over the strip. Outside Congress, meanwhile, protesters called for him to be prosecuted for alleged war crimes as families of some Israeli captives held in Gaza were evicted from the building for demanding answers from the Israeli premier.
So what were the key claims Netanyahu made in his speech, and how true were they? Al Jazeera fact-checks the prime minister’s address:
On Rafah attacks
Netanyahu: “Remember what so many people said? If Israel goes into Rafah, there’ll be thousands, maybe even tens of thousands of civilians killed. Well, last week, I went into Rafah. I visited our troops as they finished fighting Hamas’s remaining terrorist battalions. I asked the commander there, “How many terrorists did you take out in Rafah?” He gave me an exact number: 1,203. I asked him, “How many civilians were killed?” He said, “Prime minister, practically none. With the exception of a single incident, where shrapnel from a bomb hit a Hamas weapons depot and unintentionally killed two dozen people, the answer is practically none.”
The facts: At least 45 people, including children, were killed in just one attack when Israel fired missiles at a camp housing displaced Palestinians in the southern Gaza city in late May. As horrific scenes from the massacre emerged, drawing worldwide condemnation, the United Nations said Rafah was like “hell on Earth”.
By then, a majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million people were crammed into the city and its neighbouring areas after fleeing other parts of the enclave because of the war and Israel’s orders to evacuate. From May 6 to Wednesday, Israel has killed more than 4,300 people in the strip while repeatedly targeting schools and Israeli-designated “safe zones”.
Israel also killed dozens, if not hundreds, of people in Rafah in rocket attacks before its forces entered the city.
And while Netanyahu said the Israeli military had killed 1,203 Palestinian fighters, there has been no independent verification of the assertion that those described as “terrorists” were indeed individuals belonging to armed groups.
An Israeli offensive in #Rafah would mean more civilian suffering & deaths. The consequences would be devastating for 1.4 million people@UNRWA is not evacuating: the Agency will maintain a presence in Rafah as long as possible & will continue providing lifesaving aid to people pic.twitter.com/8anQ8Eq6Gv
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) May 6, 2024
On aid trucks to Gaza
Netanyahu: “Israel has enabled more than 40,000 aid trucks to enter Gaza. That’s half a million tonnes of food. And that’s more than 3,000 calories for every man, woman and child in Gaza. If there are Palestinians in Gaza who aren’t getting enough food, it’s not because Israel is blocking it. It’s because Hamas is stealing it.”
The facts: At the beginning of the war, Israel implemented a full blockade of the already besieged Gaza, which included a ban on food, water, medicines and other essential supplies. While this was somewhat eased later under global pressure, the facts on the ground – as reported by the UN, Al Jazeera’s own coverage and other independent organisations – are far removed from the picture painted by Netanyahu.
Before the war started, Gaza received an average of 500 aid trucks per day. Since the war started, the UN has recorded a total of 30,630 aid trucks — not 40,000 as Netanyahu said. That averages out to 104 trucks per day, only a fifth of the pre-war amount.
And contrary to the Israeli prime minister’s claim that there was enough food for the people of Gaza, UN experts in July declared that famine had spread throughout Gaza.
On anti-Israel protests
Netanyahu: “We recently learned from the US director of national intelligence that Iran is funding and promoting anti-Israel protests in America. They want to disrupt America.”
“For all we know, Iran is funding the anti-Israel protests that are going on right now outside this building – not that many, but they’re there – and throughout the city. Well, I have a message for these protesters: When the tyrants of Tehran, who hang gays from cranes and murder women for not covering their hair, are praising, promoting and funding you, you have officially become Iran’s useful idiots.”
The facts: Netanyahu did not provide any evidence that Iran is funding protesters.
On July 10, Avril Haines, the US director of national intelligence, did say that Iran’s government was secretly encouraging American protests in an bid to spark outrage before US elections in November.
“Iran is becoming increasingly aggressive in its efforts to influence foreign affairs, aiming to sow discord and undermine confidence in our democratic institutions,” Haines said.
But Haines did not mention funding.
Antiwar protests erupted on college campuses across the US and around the world in April. Tensions escalated when New York police made mass arrests during protests at Columbia University.
On targeting civilians
Netanyahu: “The ICC [International Criminal Court] prosecutor accuses Israel of deliberately targeting civilians. What in God’s green earth is he talking about? The [Israeli military] has dropped millions of flyers, sent millions of text messages, made hundreds of thousands of phone calls to get Palestinian civilians out of harm’s way. But at the same time, Hamas does everything in its power to put Palestinian civilians in harm’s way. They fire rockets from schools, from hospitals, from mosques.”
The facts: As of Monday, the Israeli military had marked 83 percent of the Gaza Strip as unsafe for Palestinian civilians. This portion of the enclave has either been declared a “no-go zone” by Israel or residents have been issued evacuation orders, as reported by the UN. Entire neighbourhoods in northern Gaza have been demolished while the “safe zones” in southern Gaza are shrinking.
Civilians evacuating their neighbourhoods on Israel’s orders have repeatedly come under fire. This was also the case when Israeli forces issued an evacuation order affecting 400,000 people in Khan Younis on Tuesday.
“The evacuation order was issued in the context of ongoing attacks by the Israeli military and gave no time for civilians to know from which areas they were required to leave or where they should go. Despite the evacuation order, Israeli military operations continued in and around the area unabated,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a press release.
New evacuation orders today in Khan Younis mean more suffering and displacement. Families had to pack what is left of their belongings and run, amid bombardment, and with nowhere safe to go.
People in #Gaza are exhausted, living in inhumane conditions, with no safety at all. pic.twitter.com/LSYTEBxMRM
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) July 22, 2024
Israel has also relied heavily on “dumb bombs”, which are not meant to hit precise targets but cause devastation over large areas. In December, amid escalating attacks in the besieged Strip, a US intelligence assessment revealed that nearly half of the munitions used by Israel in Gaza were unguided bombs.
“The revelation [that] almost half of all bombs dropped on Gaza by Israel are unguided dumb bombs completely undercuts their claim of minimising civilian harm,” Marc Garlasco, a former war crimes investigator for the UN wrote on social media.
There have also been instances when soldiers have killed unarmed civilians holding white flags. By June, OCHA released a report saying more than 76 percent of schools in Gaza required “full reconstruction or major rehabilitation”. Separately, according to Palestinian authorities, 8,572 students were killed in Gaza from October 7 to July 3.
On ceasefire negotations
Netanyahu: “The war in Gaza could end tomorrow if Hamas surrenders, disarms and returns all the hostages, but if they don’t, Israel will fight until we destroy Hamas’s military capabilities, end its rule in Gaza and bring all our hostages home.”
The facts: Netanyahu has repeatedly indicated that he would not agree to any deal that stipulates an end to the war unless Hamas is destroyed. The goal of eliminating Hamas has been described as unachievable by Daniel Hagari, a spokesperson of Israel’s own military.
Over the years, Hamas has on multiple occasions offered peace deals in exchange for the realisation of a sovereign, independent Palestinian state.
Israel has rejected those offers, arguing that Hamas could not be trusted to adhere to any long-term ceasefire and insisting that the proposals for short-term pauses in fighting were insincere and strategically aimed only at helping the armed movement regroup from losses.
