During an appearance on Fox News Channel’s “The Story” on Friday, White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby expressed his concern over Israel’s failure to fulfill its responsibility of safeguarding civilians and facilitating humanitarian aid. He emphasized the significant number of Palestinian casualties, with tens of thousands dead or injured, acknowledging that some of them were affiliated with Hamas. However, Kirby stressed that the overall toll has been excessively high. He further asserted the need for the complete elimination of Hamas and highlighted that a ceasefire, which was in effect since October 6, was violated by the group.
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.”
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