WASHINGTON — White Home spokesman John Kirby defended Israel amid worldwide outrage after an airstrike reportedly killed dozens of civilians within the Gaza Strip — saying the US navy “did the identical factor.”
“Now we have performed airstrikes in locations like Iraq and Afghanistan the place, tragically, we triggered civilian casualties,” he stated — including that the US responded the identical method as Israel within the aftermath.
“We owned as much as it, we investigated it, and we tried to be taught from it to make adjustments,” Kirby stated at Tuesday’s common White Home briefing.
US bombings that killed civilians included “as we pulled out of Afghanistan, the place we performed an airstrike which tragically killed a father and a few of his youngsters,” he stated.
“We atoned for it, we discovered from it, and we put in place procedures to attempt to stop that from taking place once more, and that’s what our expectations can be on this case.”
Kirby, a former Pentagon and State Division spokesman, broadly defended Israel amid reporting that no less than 44 displaced Palestinians died Sunday following an airstrike.
He famous that Israel stated it used precision bombs and that the Hamas terrorist group acknowledged that two senior leaders had been additionally killed within the strike — indicating that they had been hiding out among the many civilians.
Kirby stated that preliminary Israeli navy findings counsel that an unintended secondary explosion triggered the civilian deaths.
“Hamas itself put out an announcement celebrating the martyrdom of two of its fighters… So I don’t understand how anyone may dispute that they weren’t attempting to go after Hamas in a focused, exact method on this regard,” he stated.
“The Israelis have stated they used 37-pound bombs, precision guided munitions. A 37-pound bomb is just not an enormous bomb, and it’s precisely the sort of munition…
“If, in actual fact, that’s what they used, it’s actually indicative of an effort to be discrete, focused and exact,” he stated.
“Now, clearly this had tragic outcomes, and clearly that must be investigated, and we have to know why even utilizing small-diameter, precision guided munitions this was in a position to occur, However we’ll need to let the Israelis unravel that.”
Kirby additionally chastised critics of Israel who he stated had “forgotten” that Hamas began the warfare with its Oct. 7 shock assault on southern Israel.
“Possibly some individuals have forgotten what occurred on the seventh of October, however we haven’t — 1,200 harmless Israelis slaughtered, mutilated, tortured. They usually’re residing proper subsequent to that sort of risk, nonetheless a viable risk in Rafah,” Kirby bristled.
The terrorists additionally took lots of of individuals hostage — together with 5 People nonetheless believed to be held in captivity.
“By the way in which, if you happen to suppose Hamas is simply gone, they’re not gone from Rafah or from Gaza, and if you happen to suppose they’ve deserted their intent in the direction of the nation of Israel, suppose once more. They haven’t,” he stated.
“So Israel has each proper to not wish to reside subsequent to that sort of risk, and sure, we’re going to proceed to offer them the capabilities to go after it.”
President Biden initially took a stridently pro-Israel stance and visited the nation days after the battle began in a present of assist, however has been more and more essential of the Israeli navy in latest months — together with halting the supply of some heavy bombs to discourage a looming offensive towards the ultimate main bastion of Hamas management.
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