Israel and Hamas have extended the ceasefire for at least another 24 hours to continue to exchange hostages. This comes after U.S. Secretary of State returned to Israel and urged for further extension of the truce.
The U.S. is using subtle tactics to signal to Israel that it does not want it to resume the fighting without having to say it outright. Yet when asked if they should “condition military aid,” officials said that it’s “not something we’re currently pursuing.” So unconditional military aid will continue to flow without any restrictions to curb civilian deaths.
The U.S. is showing why the truce negotiations have been headed by Qatar. Namely because U.S. officials are speaking out of both sides of their mouths to try to condemn violence without condemning Israel.
President Biden said on his personal X account that “Hamas unleashed a terrorist attack because they fear nothing more than Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in peace.” That is almost too dumb to respond to and it is a shameless simplification for decades of brewing conflict. It implies that Israelis and Palestinians were nearing any semblance of peace prior to October 7, which is just not true.
Swiss-based Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reports that in less than 50 days, there have been at least 20,000 people killed in Gaza, including over 8,000 children and 4,000 women. They report that 92% of them are civilians. Contrast that with the civilian death toll in Ukraine which is under 10,000 in 20 months. The organization has also addressed reports that the Israeli army abandoned premature babies after evacuating a hospital in Gaza, leaving them to die.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby has said the US has “been clear with the Israelis that we don’t support them moving forward with operations in the south unless they have a plan to deal with the now-increased level of civilians there.”
