The Biden administration has become increasingly frustrated with the Israel Defense Forces’ approach in Gaza, national security spokesman John Kirby said in a television interview Sunday.
Kirby’s remarks came in response to questions from ABC This Week’s Martha Raddatz about the growing death toll in Gaza, which drew a fresh wave of international outrage last week after an Israeli airstrike killed seven aid workers.
“Why do you think anything will change?” Raddatz asked.
Kirby responded that the administration has a “growing degree of frustration” with the “way Israelis are acting on the ground in terms of civilian casualties.”
The Palestinian Ministry of Health, which is controlled by Hamas, recently estimated that more than 32,000 have been killed in Gaza since Hamas carried out a terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7.
Kirby said the administration would need to “see change over time” in the Israeli military’s strategy, “or we’re going to have to think about making changes in our own policy towards Gaza.”
Kirby noted a forceful phone call Biden had last week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during which the president laid out conditions Israel would need to meet that would allow for deconfliction in the war-torn region.
“But now we have to judge it over time,” Kirby said. “We have to see now, past the announcements, and see if they actually meet these commitments over time in a sustained and verifiable way so that confidence can be restored not just between aid workers and the IDF, but between the people of Gaza and Israel.”
Kirby said he could not at this stage say what policy changes the United States would make, such as withholding military aid from Israel, if the war continued unchanged.
Kirby also addressed an announcement the Israeli military had made that morning saying it had reduced the number of troops on the ground in the southern area of Gaza.
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“It is really just about rest and refit for these troops that have been on the ground for four months, and not necessarily, that we can tell, indicative of some coming new operation for these troops,” Kirby said. “They’ve been on the ground for four months. The word we’re getting is they’re tired. They need to be refitted.”
Israel’s offensive in Gaza began after Hamas carried out a surprise attack on the country’s civilians on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 240 hostages. Roughly 130 hostages remain in captivity, according to the Israeli military.
