Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday criticized the Palestinian Authority for denying that the Hamas terror group was responsible for the Oct. 7 massacre at a music festival in Israel that killed hundreds of attendees.
The speech on Sunday night came in response to an official statement by the Palestinian Authority that blamed “Israeli helicopters” for the deaths of hundreds of attendees at the Supernova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im.
Damaged cars and personal belongings are seen scattered at the Supernova music festival site on October 13, 2023. Hundreds of people were killed at the festival by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, near Kibbutz Re’im, Israel. (Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
The claim, echoed by Hamas, appears to refer to a report by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, which said an Israel Defense Forces helicopter accidentally hit festival-goers while shooting at terrorists.
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But the report, citing senior Israeli security officials, did not say the helicopters were responsible for all the deaths in the massacre. Fox News Digital has reached out to the reporter for comment.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the Palestinian Authority for denying that the Hamas terror group was responsible for the Oct. 7 massacre at a music festival in Israel that killed hundreds of attendees. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP/File)
“Today, the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah said something completely absurd. It denied that it was Hamas that carried out the horrific massacre at the nature festival near Gaza. It actually accused Israel of carrying out this massacre. This is a complete reversal of the truth.” Netanyahu said in a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter.
About 1,200 people were killed in Israel on the day of the Hamas surprise attack. About 240 hostages were dragged into Gaza by Hamas and remain there.
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Israel declared war in response, and more than 11,500 Palestinians have been killed in the past six weeks as the Israeli military conducts a punitive air and ground assault on Gaza, where Hamas militants have ruled for the past 16 years.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
