On Friday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “The Story,” White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby stated that Israel hasn’t fulfilled its duty to protect civilians and allow humanitarian assistance and “we have tens of thousands of dead and injured Palestinians. Now, some of them are Hamas, no question about that. But the toll’s just been too high.”
Kirby said that Hamas has to be totally eliminated and there was a ceasefire on October 6 that Hamas broke.
Host Martha MacCallum then asked, “Isn’t it Hamas’ fault that these people are suffering?”
Kirby responded, “Hamas started this war, as you said, no question about that, this conflict wouldn’t exist without Mr. Sinwar’s decision to violate that ceasefire, but what we’ve also said is that, Israel, in addition to having the obligation to go eliminate that threat, they also have an obligation to do everything possible to protect civilians and to allow humanitarian assistance. And we just haven’t seen them meet those obligations to the degree that’s needed. I mean, we have tens of thousands of dead and injured Palestinians. Now, some of them are Hamas, no question about that. But the toll’s just been too high. We want Israel to succeed here, of course we do, but how they do it matters as well, for the long-term, for their own security.”
In March, President Joe Biden said that “you cannot have 30,000 more Palestinians dead as a consequence of going after [Hamas].”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
