New Delhi: Israel launched a series of airstrikes on Gaza on Sunday, a day after an unprecedented surprise attack by Hamas fighters during which they killed hundreds and abducted an unknown number of others. Over 300 Israelis, including 20 children, have been killed so far, while the Palestinian death toll in Gaza has risen to 232, with 1,700 others injured.
Condemning the attack, the Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan called the attack on Israel "unprecedented" and compared it with the 9/11 terror attack on the United States.
In an interview with Fox News on Saturday, Erdan said, "We already suffered 250 fatalities, which is like having here, 7,500 fatalities. We already have 1,500 casualties. It's like 50,000 casualties here in the United States."
"This is our 9/11," the top Israeli diplomat asserted.
The 9/11 attacks were a series of coordinated terrorist acts carried out by the extremist group al-Qaeda in the United States on September 11, 2001, in which flights crashed into the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, DC, and a field in Pennsylvania. The attacks resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 people and injured 25,000 people.
During the show, the diplomat explained that because Israel’s population is smaller than the United States, the amount of casualties is proportional to the lives lost on 9/11.
Furthermore, Erdan called the Hamas militants "animals" and condemned the military group for killing civilians.
"Babies, women, the elderly were taken hostage outside their homes. Civilians were shot, and most were massacred in cold blood walking on the streets. This is something that, I mean, is truly unprecedented," he told Fox News' Eric Shawn.
"We are committed to change the equation, to shatter the old paradigm. These animals will pay a heavy price and they will learn that these atrocities cannot be committed again against our civilians,'' he added.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country is at war and Hamas will pay an unprecedented price. “Citizens of Israel, we are at war. This is not an operation, not an escalation – this is war. And we will win. Hamas will pay an unprecedented price,” he said in a video message.