The US may not have minimised civilian casualties as cautiously as Israel has in Gaza – White House

US National Security Council spokesman at the White House, John Kirby, said yesterday during a press briefing that measures taken by the Israeli military to minimise civilian casualties in Gaza might exceed what the US would have undertaken in a similar war.

He pointed out the IDF’s release of a map earlier this month, notifying civilians about the neighbourhood it intended to target, allowing them to evacuate in advance.

“That’s basically telegraphing your punches. There are very few modern militaries in the world that would do that. I don’t know that we would do that,” said Kirby.

He also claimed that Israel has decreased its airstrikes in the southern region, choosing instead to employ more ground forces in northern Gaza.

He said, “They moved into southern Gaza on the ground in a way that was much smaller than they planned to do. We think that was an output of some of the advice and counsel we provided them about urban warfare.”

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Kirby’s remarks came after President Joe Biden’s criticism on Tuesday, where he warned that Israel has begun to lose international support due to its “indiscriminate bombing” of the Gaza Strip, and called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to change his government because it “does not want a two-state solution”.

Biden also added that Netanyahu must change his government’s extremist approach, describing the current Israeli cabinet as the “most extreme” in Israel’s history.

In response, Kirby said yesterday that the President’s criticism “reflected the reality of global opinion, which also matters. Our support for Israel is not diminished, but we have had concerns and we have expressed those concerns about the prosecution of this military campaign, even while acknowledging that it is Hamas that started this and that it’s Hamas that is continuing it.”

Israel has bombarded Gaza from the air, imposed a siege and launched a ground offensive in retaliation for a 7 October attack by Hamas that Israel says killed 1,200 people and saw 240 people taken hostage.

The death toll in Gaza has risen to over 18,200 Palestinians, while the number of those injured now stands at 50,000, announced the Ministry of Health in Gaza this week.