UNRWA director apologizes after saying IDF strikes on Gaza were 'precise' and 'sophisticated'
Schmale also claimed that the Gaza Strip was not currently suffering from food shortages, medicine, or water
The director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) apologized on Tuesday amid outrage from Palestinian groups after remarking on Israeli television that the IDF appeared "precise" and "sophisticated" when striking targets in the Gaza Strip.
Shortly after speaking with Israeli broadcaster Channel 12 earlier this week, Matthias Schmale was excoriated by the Hamas terror organization and other Palestinian groups who accused him of absolving Israel from the death of civilians during the 11 days of fighting that ended in a ceasefire last Friday.
During the interview, Schmale was asked about the IDF's military precision and its efforts to avoid civilian casualties.
"I am not a military expert, but I would not dispute this. I also feel that there is a great sophistication with the way the IDF has struck over the past 11 days," he replied.
He also claimed that the Gaza Strip was not currently suffering from food shortages, medicine, or water after Israel had reopened its border crossings with the Palestinian coastal enclave.
Schmale explained that despite the precision, the strikes in the last conflict were much more "vicious" than in the 2014 war.
“So yes they did not hit, with some exceptions, civilian targets, but the viciousness and ferocity of the strikes were heavily felt,” he said.
Hamas quickly denounced Schmale's assessment, saying in a statement that the UNRWA director's "comments are a complete distortion in favor of the Zionists, including an attempt to exonerate the Occupation from killing 254 Palestinians, more than 40 percent of whom are children, women and elderly."
The terrorist group had asked UNRWA to investigate him and issue an apology.
Eleven days of Israeli airstrikes and artillery fire on Gaza since May 10 killed 254 Palestinians, including 66 children as well as Islamist militants, authorities in Gaza say.
Rocket and other fire from Gaza claimed 12 lives in Israel, including one child and an Arab-Israeli teenager, an Israeli soldier, one Indian national, and two Thai workers, medics say.