The Biden administration mentioned Monday it doesn’t imagine that Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza.
“We don’t imagine what is going on in Gaza is a genocide. We now have been firmly on report rejecting that proposition,” Nationwide Safety Adviser Jake Sullivan mentioned at a White Home press briefing — though he added that the White Home believes “Israel can and should do extra to make sure the safety and properly being of harmless civilians.”
His feedback got here a day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken mentioned he agreed with a preliminary State Division report that declared it’s “cheap to evaluate” Israel has violated worldwide humanitarian regulation throughout its warfare on Hamas terrorists within the Palestinian territory.
President Biden has been fiercely criticized by some in his celebration for supporting Israel’s mission to eradicate Hamas from the Gaza Strip because the terror group launched a lethal assault on the Jewish state on Oct. 7, killing greater than 1,100 civilians.
Biden’s critics have known as him “Genocide Joe” over the variety of civilians killed throughout Israel’s retaliation in Gaza, with protests across the nation, together with by some teams which have interrupted the president’s occasions and brought over elements of some college campuses.
The White Home has walked a line of supporting Israel but additionally issuing warnings over the nation’s plans to invade Rafah — a densely populated metropolis within the Gaza Strip — out of concern for extra civilian deaths.
The Gaza Ministry of Well being, which is managed by Hamas, has claimed that greater than 34,000 folks have died within the warfare between Israel and Hamas, however the United Nations has not been capable of independently verify the quantity.
Within the briefing, Sullivan additionally mentioned the Biden administration paused the bomb cargo to Israel, reported final week, “as a result of we don’t imagine they need to be dropped in densely populated cities.”
He reiterated {that a} floor invasion of Rafah can be a “mistake” as a result of it places civilians in danger “with out a clear strategic achieve.”
“We’re nonetheless working with Israel to make sure the defeat of Hamas in every single place in Gaza, together with in Rafah,” Sullivan added.
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