Naftali Bennett on CNN. Photo: Screenshot.

Palestinian leaders in Gaza are doing far more damage to their own people themselves than Israel, Israel’s Economy Minister Naftali Bennett told CNN on Wednesday.

“I think it’s terrible that Hamas is butchering it’s own children,” Bennett told the network’s Wolf Blitzer, immediately in the wake of a report that an errant Israeli shell fired from offshore killed a trio of youths on the Gaza beach.

“Hamas is conducting massive self-genocide,” Bennett said. “They’re taking women and children, placing them next to missile launchers, and shooting the missiles at Israel,” he added, placing ultimate responsibility for their welfare upon the Islamic group that rules the coastal enclave.

Blitzer, however, remonstrated that the youths were merely playing on the beach, prompting Bennett to reply that Israeli forces were aware of rockets hidden “in hospitals, schools, and private homes.”

“This whole thing can go away in one moment,” Bennett stressed: “Hamas needs to stop shooting.