Former US official: Hamas started the Gaza war

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00:00Eli, I think a lot of people would argue that Israel has been extremely aggressive when it

00:06comes to Hamas and Gaza. The Gaza death toll, now over 57,500 people, 17,400 children have been

00:16killed, humanitarian aid halted, and this is over 21 months of war. So is Donald Trump the person

00:26with enough leverage to stop Netanyahu? Because we know the right of his coalition wants this war

00:34to continue, and he knows Netanyahu, if it doesn't, that his coalition will crumble underneath him.

00:43Leanne, I would say the following. First of all, when it comes to the numbers coming out of Gaza,

00:50we have to be very careful whose numbers we accept, because often the numbers are coming

00:54from Hamas themselves. Now, second, if you understand that the residents of Gaza are in the

00:59millions, and now you're talking about thousands killed, you know, look, no one wants any death

01:04anywhere, but it is a war that Hamas started with Israel, and so when any entity starts a war,

01:11they will expect that there are going to be retaliation, and unfortunately there will be

01:16death that comes as a consequence for that. Has Israel fought this war against Hamas as aggressively

01:23as they can? I can assure you that they have not, and again, part of that reason is because Hamas

01:30understood Israel's psyche and mentality, and they took Israelis hostage.