WASHINGTON -- Every Palestinian civilian's death costs Israel in its fight for world opinion but the Jewish state must not cede its security for the sake of public relations, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said as he pressed his nation's case on America's Sunday TV news programs.
The Israeli leader said Palestinians are trying to shape global opinion with images of piled-up slain civilians.
"We're telling the civilians to leave, Hamas is telling them to stay," Netanyahu said in satellite interviews from Israel as the lethal conflict enters its third week. "Why is it telling them to stay? Because it wants to pile up their own dead bodies." He said: "They not only want to kill our people, they want to sacrifice their own people."
A Palestinian minister countered that Israel's actions are unjustified.
"The Israeli aggression on Gaza does not bring peace to Israel," said Mohammad Shtayyeh, minister of the Palestinian Economic Council for Research and Development.
The 20-day war has killed more than 1,030 Palestinians, mainly civilians, according to Palestinian health officials. Israel has lost more than 40 soldiers, while two Israeli civilians and a Thai worker in Israel were killed by rocket and mortar attacks from Gaza.
Netanyahu said his nation's efforts to secure itself will not yield despite growing concern about civilian deaths at the hands of Israel's forces. He insisted Israel is not targeting civilians but showed little willingness to ease its military actions against the Islamic militant group Hamas which controls Gaza.
"Hamas is a terror organization that is committed to our destruction," Netanyahu said.
Hamas on Sunday said it would observe a 24-hour truce even as Palestinian militants fired rockets deep into Israel, prompting it to resume an offensive aimed at destroying rocket launchers and cross-border attack tunnels used by the anti-Israel bloc.
"Israel is not obliged and is not going to let a terrorist organization determine when it's convenient for them to fire at our cities, at our people and when it's not, when they can re-stop," Netanyahu said.
Palestinians said Israeli aggression has consequences.
"Israel has to accommodate the Palestinian demands and aspirations for ending occupation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state," Shtayyeh said. "This is the only answer."
Netanyahu spoke to NBC's "Meet the Press," "Fox News Sunday" and CBS' "Face the Nation." Shtayyeh and Netanyahu appeared on CNN's "State of the Union."
