The White House communications adviser said it’s difficult to directly equate Israel’s actions in Gaza to those of Hamas, while acknowledging U.S. frustration with the increasing civilian casualties and infrastructure damage from Israel’s operations.
He noted Hamas broke the ceasefire and embeds itself among civilians, endangering Palestinians.
CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked, “You heard Secretary Blinken earlier today, suggest — he warned that there’s a real risk the way Israel is waging its war in Gaza right now is making it indistinguishable from Hamas. How close is Israel to that point?”
Kirby said, “Well, it’s difficult to say on a scale like that. We have to remember, Hamas — there was a ceasefire in place on the 6th of October. Hamas broke it. Mr. Sinwar chose to start this war. Mr. Sinwar and the Hamas fighters choose to bury themselves under hospitals and civilian infrastructure, use the innocent people of Gaza as human shields.”
Kirby stated it’s not just Israel’s right to target Hamas but the way it does so that matters, suggesting recent Israeli actions risk becoming indistinguishable from Hamas if civilian impacts are not better avoided or minimized going forward.
“They are increasingly placing innocent Palestinians at greater risk as well. I think we can’t equate what they did on the 7th of October to the kinds of operations that Israel is conducting. That said, and we’ve been clear about this too, it’s not just the right and responsibility of the IDF to go after Hamas, it’s the way they do it that matters, and it’s the way they’ve been doing it in recent weeks and months that [has] caused increasing frustration by us in terms of the civilian casualties, the damage to civilian infrastructure, and now, the potential impact on humanitarian organizations being fearful of moving into Gaza,” he said.
