Naftali Bennett, Former Isreali Defence Minister and a member of Israel’s Knesset and head of the Yamina party, blamed Hamas for the death of dozens of Palestinians in Gaza from Israeli airstrikes.

Hamas bears responsibility for those deaths, he said in an interview with Al Jazeera TV yesterday.

He was responding to a question about the 53 Palestinians including children who were killed by Isreali forces and airstrikes in the holy month of Ramadan these last few days.

“Indeed Hamas killed them. Because when you hide your rockets behind women and children, you are effectively murdering your own people..

“We will defend ourselves. And if Hamas decides to turn schools into terror bases, and hospitals, in a cowardly manner, into terror bases, they are responsible for murdering their own people,” he said.

“Instead of taking its money and investing in hospitals, in schools, in building a future for its people, It (Hamas) is spending all its money on terror, on trying to kill Israelis.

“It’s both stupid and wrong. It’s stupid because they are not going to succeed because we’re strong and we are going to defend ourselves. And, you know, I am in the position now, but make no mistake, we are all united, we stand strong united. And there’s one way for this to stop: For Hamas to lay down its arms. And then, it’ll stop,” Bennett said.

Israel has right to act against any attack on its territory, Bennett stressed, adding that Hamas, whom he and Israel label as “Palestinian terrorists”, are responsible for the mounting death toll in Israel and the Gaza Strip, and he suggested Hamas must surrender in order for the war to stop.

“All what Hamas needs to do to end the violence is: lay down its arms,” he said.

“It’s up to Hamas as long as Hamas keeps (attacking Israel) in order to murder Israelis across the state — by the way, Arabs and Jews alike.

“Hamas already murdered two Arab Israelis in the city of Lod, a dad, 52 years old, and his daughter Nadin, 16 years old, Israeli Arabs who were murdered. A Holocaust survivor, 85 years old, was murdered by Hamas, in her wheelchair.

“If Hamas thinks they can get away with this, they’re wrong. We’ll hunt down every commander, every post, until we win,” Bennett said.

“When we get hundreds of rockets a night on Israel, we all stand united. No one will divide us and we’ll fight back,” he added.

Bennett also dismissed claims that the ongoing conflict has sprung out of Hamas’ and Palestinians’ lack of a recognized state or any unjust “occupation” by Israel.

“We gave Hamas everything, unfortunately,” Bennett said, referring to a 2005 agreement in which Israel completely evacuated the Gaza Strip. “If they decide that they want to start governing and stop being a failed terror state which is a miserable future for their own people, they’ll find a peaceful neighbor. But if they continue this, it’s just going to get worse,” he told the Arab TV Channel.

When asked on the possibility of the so-called proposed “two-state solution,” Bennett rejected such an idea, saying that (“two-state solution) would leave Israel sandwiched between Palestinian terrorists in Gaza on one side and Palestinians in Judea and Samaria on the other.

“It would create a terror state that does not exist yet in Judea and Samaria and would effectively deem Israel unable to defend ourselves. The whole width of Israel is just about seven or eight miles,” Bennet said. “We see what they turned Gaza into.

“No Israeli is going to give up Judea and Samaria and allow them to create a terror state that’s just a few minutes away from my home,” he said.