Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk told Russia Today TV that the Islamist group has no other option but to fight from tunnels.

Gaza: Amid intensified war between Israel and Hamas, the terrorist group on Tuesday said protecting civilians is the responsibility of the United Nations and Israel and added that the underground tunnels in Gaza are to protect the fighters.

Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk told Russia Today TV that the Islamist group has no other option but to fight from tunnels.

“Protecting Gaza civilians is the responsibility of the United Nations (UN) and Israel…We have built the tunnels to protect ourselves from getting targeted and killed. These are meant to protect us from the airplanes,” he said.

In the meantime, Hamas militants in Gaza retaliated against the air strikes by Israeli troops into the Gaza Strip’s main city as the war intensified into what the Israeli administration called the ‘second phase’.

As per the latest data released by the Gaza health ministry, over 8,300 people died since the war began, of which 3,457 were minors.

Earlier in the day, White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby on Monday (local time) said that he thinks Israel is “certainly” making an effort to minimize humanitarian casualties in Gaza.

While addressing a press briefing on Monday (local time), he said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spoken about the efforts that they are making to try to avoid civilian casualties. He noted that there have been civilian casualties amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas and added that the Israel Defence Force’s goal is to go after Hamas terrorists and not after civilians.

Asked whether US President Joe Biden feels that Israel abides by the rule of war, Kirby said, “Without getting into, reacting to events on the ground in real-time, which we are just not going to do, this is a conversation we consistently have had with our Israeli counterparts. As you rightly know, that was part of the discussion yesterday with the prime minister, and you heard the prime minister today speaking in Tel Aviv about the efforts that they’re undertaking to try to avoid civilian casualties, and I think that they certainly are making that effort.”

“It doesn’t mean that there haven’t been civilian casualties tragically, there have been many, thousands of them, but unlike Putin in Ukraine, and unlike what Hamas did on October 7, killing civilians is not a war aim of the Israeli Defence Forces. Their war aim is to go after Hamas terrorists, terrorists I might add, that are using innocent Palestinians as human shields,” he added.

John Kirby that Netanyahu brings up the issue of civilian casualties in Gaza in conversations with US President Joe Biden and that both leaders “recognize that as democracies, it’s important to abide by the law of war, to protect innocent life and to and to try to minimize civilian casualties.”

In response to a question on why Biden is repeatedly calling for fighting the war in a manner consistent with international humanitarian law, he said, “Because it is something that even the Prime Minister brings up in the conversation. They both recognize that as democracies, it’s important to abide by the law of war, to protect innocent life and to try to minimize civilian casualties. It’s not a lecturing, it’s a reminder from two leaders of two vibrant democracies, that this is what separates us from folks like Hamas.”