Just minutes before an interview on Wednesday, Israel's ambassador to Malta Ze'ev Boker pulled out his mobile phone to show Times of Malta a video.
It showed graphic images of bullet-ridden bodies, charred corpses and blood-splattered and partially destroyed houses.
The video was a stark reminder of the brutal wave of terror attacks launched on Israel six weeks ago by Hamas militants which left 1,200 dead and saw 240 taken hostage.
But public opinion seems to have turned against Israel since then, following a massive retaliation which, according to Gaza health officials, has left 10 times that number dead on the Palestinian side, almost half of them children.
Boker insists, however, that his country does not want children to be killed in the conflict with Hamas and that civilian deaths should be seen in context.
“Each child in Israel or in the Palestinian Authority or in Gaza is important. We care about children, we don't want children to be killed,” Boker said.
“But if the Hamas terrorist organisation chooses to put their military infrastructure under hospitals, in schools... and are launching the rockets from civilian places... I think we have to see it in context.”
According to recent figures released by Gaza health officials, 12,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict, around 5,000 of them children.
Boker expressed skepticism at the reported numbers, however, stressing the numbers were coming from Hamas.
“When you speak about numbers... what is the main source for these numbers? I don't think anybody has the real numbers. They're coming from Hamas...”
Does he think the numbers have been inflated?
“I didn’t say inflated, just listen to what I'm saying. The numbers are coming from Hamas, and they’re using them for augmentation. They use numbers also to increase their leverage and to discredit Israel.”
Boker claimed 1,000 rockets launched by Hamas from civilian areas had fallen on Palestinian areas.
"Many of the casualties are from Hamas rockets," he said.
UN Security Council members during last week's vote. Photo: UNRejecting Malta’s UN resolution?
Boker was speaking while visiting Malta the same day Israel and Hamas agreed to a four-day truce in the conflict-stricken Palestinian enclave.
The agreement came a week after Israel rejected a Malta-drafted United Nations Security Council resolution calling for “extended humanitarian pauses” in the war between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza.
When asked why Israel had agreed to the truce a week after dismissing the resolution, Boker said this did not accurately represent his country’s position.
“I don't know where you got this notion that Israel fully rejected the Security Council resolution. Maybe you will say you quote the Israeli UN ambassador. [But] if you look at the official position of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, there was no rejection.”
Last Thursday, Israel’s foreign ministry said it would reject the resolution while its representative to the UN Gilad Erdan called the resolution “detached from reality”.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Erdan said the “meaningless” resolution would have little impact because Israel would “continue abiding by international law” while Hamas would not even read the resolution, let alone abide by it.
Robert Abela addressing party supporters in Paola. Photo: PLResponse to Malta criticisms
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Robert Abela said while Malta condemned the Hamas attack on Israel — which also led to 240 being taken hostage — it didn’t justify the loss of life inflicted on the Palestinians.
"Without any doubt, we condemn the Hamas attack on Israel, but no terrorist attack - and better still - no right of self-defence should lead to retaliation that sees the butchering and massacring of innocent children, parents and civilians and the loss of so many innocent lives,” he said.
When asked to respond to the Prime Minister's comments, Boker refused to be drawn into criticism of Abela: “I'm not going to try to say if this statement was balanced or not – it is not in my diplomatic vocabulary to get to that,” he said.
“But judging the overall situation, I think Malta is a friend of Israel and trying its best — they have constraints like any country — to have as balanced a position as possible. We don't expect Malta to stand with us on everything we do...
"I don't think it's up to me to criticise your leaders... If we have something to react to, we do it in a diplomatic arena”, he said.
When asked for his response to recent calls from activists and politicians – including President Emeritus Marie Louise Coleiro Preca – for Malta to recall its ambassador to Israel, Boker said this would be a mistake.
“If Malta wants to play a role — and Malta is a respected member of the Security Council — no member of the Security Council should take an unbalanced position. Because at the end of the day, the name of the game is leaving diplomatic channels open; recalling an ambassador is just the opposite.”
Palestinians checking the destruction in the aftermath of an Israeli strike on the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. Photo: AFPScale of Israel's response
Calling the wave of attacks on Israel on October 7 the “worst terrorist attack in human history,” Boker reiterated his country’s oft-repeated stance it has the “full right like any democratic country any country to defend its citizens.”
The aims of Israel's military response were clear, he said: To secure the release of hostages held by Hamas and destroy the group’s military and political infrastructure.
But scrutiny has increasingly fallen on the country for the scale of its military operations which have left Gaza devastated and an estimated 1.7 million people displaced.
Earlier this week, the Geneva-based Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said Israel has dropped around 25,000 tonnes of explosives on Gaza. It said this is equivalent in power to the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan in World War II.
So does Boker believe Israel’s response is proportionate?
“If you know international law, you will see that proportion, as a special definition, is not [about] the numbers... it’s about the difference in the ratio between the force you use and the legitimacy of the target," he said.
“I'm not underestimating [the numbers of casualties of] any children or women on our side or the Palestinian side, [but] it's not about numbers.”