In an interview published Thursday, NPR international correspondent Daniel Estrin spoke to Louis Herr, an Israeli who was taken hostage by Hamas in the Oct. 7 terrorist attack, about airstrikes in the Gaza Strip run by Hamas. I asked about the Ministry of Health’s claim that the Israeli military initiated the attack in conjunction with Gaza. Seventy Palestinian civilians were killed in a special forces raid to rescue Hara.
Estrin said: [relevant remarks begin around 6:00] “During the rescue operation, the Israeli military announced that it had carried out a large-scale airstrike as a diversion to support special forces. Gaza health officials said more than 70 Palestinian men, women and children were killed. I asked Louis Herr about it.”
He then played a clip of a translation of Herr’s remarks, in which he said: That’s not my job. The military will give you an answer. You can see that most of the people there are Hamas. They are not going to pet or love us and I have no mercy towards them at this time. ”
Estrin said Hur also called for a prisoner exchange in which Israel would release Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis in order to rescue hostages. Mr. Hur called this potential exchange “our people and their killers,” according to an NPR translation.
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