Palestinians were demanding the resignation of the director of the Gazan branch of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, Matthias Schmale, following an interview with Israel's Channel 12 News in which he said Israeli airstrikes appeared to be "precise."
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His remarks elicited a torrent of criticism on Twitter.
"I have the impression that there is a huge sophistication in the way the Israeli military struck over the last 11 days, so that's not my issue," Schmale said. He went onto say that "in comparison with the 2014 war, this time the strikes felt much more vicious in terms of their impact."
Gaza residents and others called for Schmale's resignation.
In response, Schmale tweeted a series of messages expressing regret for any offense caused.
"The terror from the sky that we have just experienced amounts to a form of collective punishment of the civilian population. This must never happen again," he said.
On Tuesday, Schmale also tweeted that his post about the precision of IDF strikes had been taken out of context. "My issue is that the precise strikes of the sophisticated army killed more than 200 civilians including 20 children that went to UNRWA schools. This is unacceptable and cannot be white washed!" he tweeted.
Quoting me like this is, @i24NEWS_EN, is manipulative. My issue is that the precise strikes of the sophisticated army killed more than 200 civilians including 20 children that went to UNRWA schools. This is unacceptable and cannot be white washed! https://t.co/fDi3ajY3h7
— Matthias Schmale (@matzschmale) May 25, 2021
Meanwhile, a group of reservists from Unit 8200 in the IDF Military Intelligence Directorate issued a letter on Tuesday stating that the intelligence community had been strongly committed to avoiding civilian casualties in Gaza during Operation Guardian of the Walls.
"We hereby testify that the intelligence community is continuously committed to preventing and mitigating any physical harm or violation of the privacy of all uninvolved and innocent individuals," the reservists said in the letter, which was sent to MID chief Maj. Gen. Tamir Hayman and Unit 8200 commander Brig. Gen. "Y."
The unit's reservists also said they completely supported the intelligence community's activities during the 11-day military operation.
This activity, they wrote, was performed "with utmost responsibility, while upholding the IDF's values and specifically the value of human life and human dignity, upon which we were raised and trained."
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