Hamas invites Elon Musk to Gaza to see ‘extent of destruction’ by Israeli strikes

 

Hamas invites Elon Musk to Gaza to see ‘extent of destruction’ by Israeli strikes

 

Invitation comes after tech billionaire accompanied Benjamin Netanyahu to inspect Israeli kibbutz that was attacked by Hamas

 

Julian Borger in Washington

Tue 28 Nov 2023 22.25 GMT

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/nov/28/hamas-invites-elon-musk-visit-gaza

 

Hamas has invited Elon Musk to Gaza to witness the devastation of the Palestinian territory under Israeli attack after the hi-tech billionaire accompanied Benjamin Netanyahu to inspect a kibbutz targeted by Hamas.

 

“We invite him to visit Gaza to see the extent of the massacres and destruction committed against the people of Gaza, in compliance with the standards of objectivity and credibility,” Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official, said in a press conference in Beirut on Tuesday.

 

Musk’s appearance on Monday alongside the Israeli prime minister at Kfar Aza, a kibbutz 2 miles (3km) from the Gaza border where more than 50 people were killed by Hamas attackers, also drew criticism from Israelis.

 

On 15 November, the founder of the Tesla electric car company and the owner of the X social media platform formerly known as Twitter tweeted and endorsed a post accusing Jews of “hatred against whites”, and the next day endorsed a post that said: “Everyone is allowed to be proud of their race, except for white people.”

 

The retweets were not mentioned on Musk’s visit to Kfar Aza, and the tycoon instead made remarks agreeing with Netanyahu’s portrayal of the war on Hamas.

 

“Those that are intent on murder must be neutralised,” he said. “The propaganda must stop that is training people to be murderers in the future. And then, making Gaza prosperous. And if that happens, I think it will be a good future.”

 

Musk’s visit to Israel came during a pause in the Israeli military campaign to allow Hamas to release hostages and Israel to free Palestinian prisoners from its jails, but Netanyahu has vowed that Israel will resume operations as soon as the temporary ceasefire was over.

 

The death toll among people in Gaza is estimated by the Hamas-run authorities as more than 14,000.

 

“Within 50 days, Israel dropped more than 40,000 tonnes of explosives on the homes of defenseless Gazans,” Hamdam said. “I call on US President Biden to review the US relationship with Israel and to stop supplying them with weapons.”

 

Joe Biden has largely supported Israel in its military campaign, and the US has helped replenish Israeli stocks of weapons and ammunition, but his administration has more recently expressed unease at the high civilian death rate, and called for Israel to change its tactics before taking the war into southern Gaza.