As President Joe Biden visited Israel on Wednesday, the country’s Consul General to New England Meron Reuben spoke to Boston Public Radio Wednesday about the ongoing war with Hamas militants. Reuben now liases with the region after decades of working in Israeli government, formerly as the ambassador of Israel to the United Nations.
“I don't think in my 35-year diplomatic career I have ever heard an American president with such heartfelt messages and such strong resolve to deal with the situation. ... The president of the United States is in Israel at a time of war. I don’t think this has ever happened before,” Reuben said.
Biden’s visit comes just a day after an explosion near the Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza. Hundreds of people were killed as a result of the blast.
The consul general expressed frustration that Hamas blamed Israel for the explosion. Israel said it was caused by rocket misfire by a Palestinian militant group. Biden on Wednesday said U.S. intelligence supports the idea that the hospital explosion was “the result of an errant rocket fired by a terrorist group from Gaza.”
“Not all the rockets and shells that are sent from the Gaza Strip actually land on the Israeli side of the fence. ... It’s unfortunately not the first time that something like this can happen,” Reuben said.
Less than two weeks ago, Hamas militants fired thousands of rockets toward Israeli towns and stormed the fence on the Israel-Gaza border. More than 1,000 people were killed in the attack, and at least 100 were taken hostage.
Reuben condemned the attack.
“It will take us, I think, years, and maybe even decades, to really understand the profound brutality that went on,” he said. “These are monsters. And ISIS looks like a pussycat in comparison.”
He added that when Israel is no longer at war, there will likely be an inquiry into what led to the intelligence failure. But now, he said, is not the time.
“This was a massive failure because the state failed its citizens and didn’t give the protection that it should,” the consul general said.
Israel declared war on Hamas the next day, Oct. 8, and launched airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.
Authorities on both sides have reported 1,400 deaths in Israel and more than 3,000 in Gaza, as of Oct. 17.
“I presume that we will have to have ground troops in the Gaza Strip, especially if we have to do away with the Hamas terrorist regime and destroy its military capacities,” Reuben said. The Israeli military said over the weekend that it is preparing for “significant ground operations” in Gaza.
“We unfortunately have to face trying to destroy the Hamas terrorists so that they can never, ever, ever do something like this again,” he said.
Last week, the Israeli military told Palestinians to evacuate northern Gaza.
“We are trying desperately not to hit civilians,” Reuben said. “... It’s very difficult when you are trying to conduct a war according to the war lawfare when you have to face groups who do not.”
He said this evacuation is necessary because Hamas centers of command are “burrowed and tunneled” under the Gaza Strip. In 2021, Hamas claimed to have built 500 km (311 miles) of tunnels.
The United Nations’ human rights office said that the evacuation order could be in violation of international law.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are evacuating toward Egypt’s Rafah border with Gaza. International aid has been sent to the border, but it remains closed. The Gaza Strip has been blockaded by Egypt and Israel since Hamas took over in 2007.
“Israel has nothing to do with the Rafah closing at this moment. We did destroy some of the roads leading up to it, but you don’t always need a road to get across it,” Reuben said.
Reuben said that he hoped humanitarian aid would reach Gaza, but that “it will not get in this time from the Israeli side.”
“You’re asking warring parties to open up and give the people you’re fighting fuel and food and water. They can get the fuel — the food — from the other side of the fence that leads to Egypt,” he said.
As water dwindles for some two million Palestinians, a United Nations official said the situation has “become a matter of life and death.”
Israeli officials say water is now once again being provided by Israel to the southern part of the Gaza Strip, after being cut on Oct. 9. This was an agreement between Biden and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Less than 10% of Gaza’s water would normally come from Israel, Reuben said. But a huge majority of Gaza’s own aquifer is polluted. Palestinians rely on desalination plants to purify it, many of which have stopped operating since Israel’s blockade.
The fuel used to run these stations in the Gaza Strip often came through Israel, Reuben said.
