Peres decries ‘murder tunnels,’ says Gaza a ‘tragedy’

As his seven-year term as Israel’s ninth president comes to a close, President Shimon Peres says he never imagined that he would finish out his last days in the position of urging international support for Israel even as it uncovers “hidden murder tunnels” and is hit by barrages of rockets aimed at civilians.

Blasting the UNHRC’s decision to investigate Israel on suspicion that it committed war crimes in the Gaza Strip, Peres says he never imaged Israel would “have to warn the world of the danger of the insanity of terrorism,” which is “trying to shed our blood” and is causing “rivers of blood” to run in Gaza.

“Never has such a small minority torn apart the fabric of entire nations and cruelly sent babies to shield its crimes,” he says. “Hamas has pushed the hundreds of thousands of civilians in Gaza into a field of fire and death. The terrorists have turned Gaza, which is over 3,000 years old, into a man-made tragedy. We willingly evacuated the Israeli presence from it and even assisted in its rehabilitation. Unfortunately, unfortunately for it, terrorist fanatics have taken over it, taken the resources that were allocated for its rehabilitation, and invested them in mechanisms of terror and murder.”

He adds that “Israel is not the enemy of the residents of Gaza.”