Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, addresses a Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East. Photo: UN Photo / Loey Felipe.

Israel’s United Nations envoy on Friday issued a fresh call on the Security Council to denounce Hamas as a terrorist organization and not question or undermine Israel’s right of self-defense.

In a letter to the Security Council that followed Thursday’s rocket attack on Tel Aviv, Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon pointed out that the “terrorists that fired these rockets into Israel’s most populated civilian area did so while hiding behind Palestinian civilians in Gaza and exploiting them as human shields.”

Danon continued: “Such an act constitutes a double war crime. Israel will take any and all necessary actions to protect itself and its citizens from the unrelenting Palestinian terrorism we face. A terrorist organization that tries to harm Israel will encounter a relentless and uncompromising force.”

Mindful of the historic use of the UN as a platform to condemn Israel for its military response to Palestinian violence, Danon emphasized: “Any other nation facing this daily onslaught of terror attacks would not hesitate to act on behalf of the safety and security of its people.”

He concluded: “Israel must not be held to a different standard.”

The IDF hit over 100 targets in Hamas-ruled Gaza following Thursday’s rocket fire. Palestinian terrorists later fired a further nine rockets at Israeli communities near the Gaza border, six of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome aerial defense system.