White House: There Are ‘Too Many Civilian Casualties’ in Israel’s War, ‘The Number Needs to Be Zero’

On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby stated that Hamas doesn’t care about the Palestinian people and if they did, “they’d lay down their arms, they’d step aside, they’d release those hostages,” but they’ve refused hostage release offers. Kirby also stated that there have been too many civilians killed in Gaza and the number of civilian casualties “needs to be zero.”

While discussing the hostages, Kirby said, “I wish I had progress to tell you about this morning. I don’t. There was a very good proposal laid at the feet of Hamas, just a couple of weeks ago, after Bill Burns, our CIA Director, negotiated it in Cairo. They have not taken that proposal up. In fact, they’ve indicated that they won’t. Now, yesterday, they came out and said they would only release the hostages if there was an independent state for the Palestinian people. Look, there’s not going to be an independent Palestinian state with Hamas in control of Gaza, it can’t happen. If they really cared about the Palestinian people, if they really cared about an independent state, they’d lay down their arms, they’d step aside, they’d release those hostages, and let us get on with the business of working with Israel and the Palestinian Authority for a revitalized Palestinian Authority that could actually manage and meets the — meet the aspirations of the Palestinian people.”

Later, Kirby stated that there isn’t any evidence of Israel committing genocide in Gaza, adding, “Now, that said, there has been, and the president talked about this, too many civilian casualties. The number needs to be zero. And there are too many people starving, too many people in need. And so, we’re going to continue to push Israel to do more to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people and to try to get a ceasefire in place so that we can get all those hostages out. And then, after six weeks of a ceasefire, try to find an enduring way to end this conflict. The president’s committed to that.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett