The US has said Israel must do more to protect Palestinian civilians.
Washington:
The United States does not believe genocide is taking place in Gaza, but Israel must do more to protect Palestinian civilians, President Joe Biden’s top national security official said Monday.
As ceasefire negotiations stall and Israel continues to attack the southern city of Rafah, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan insists that responsibility for peace lies with the Hamas operative group.
“We believe that Israel can and must do more to ensure the protection and well-being of innocent civilians. We do not believe that what is happening in Gaza is a genocide,” Sullivan said at a briefing.
The US was “using the internationally accepted term for genocide, which includes a focus on intent” to arrive at this assessment, Sullivan added.
Biden wanted to see Hamas defeated, but realized Palestinian civilians were in “hell,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan said he would take the White House podium to “step back” and outline the Biden administration’s position on the conflict, amid criticism from both ends of the US political spectrum.
Biden has been criticized by Republicans for suspending some arms shipments to press his demands that Israel delay an offensive on Rafah, while there have been protests at US universities against his support for Israel.
The US president believes that any operation in Rafah “has to be linked to a strategic endgame that also answers the question: ‘what’s next?'” Sullivan added.
This would prevent Israel “from becoming bogged down in a counterinsurgency campaign that never ends and that ultimately weakens Israel’s strength and vitality.”
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