Kirby says Biden administration is ‘increasingly frustrated’ with Israeli military conduct

White House national security communications adviser John Kirby said there is growing dissatisfaction within the Biden administration with the way the Israeli military conducts wartime operations.

In an interview on ABC News’ “This Week,” co-anchor Martha Raddatz said President Biden’s view of Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip, which has been controlled by Hamas since 2007, is gradually changing. This is a chronology of statements made by the ministers and other ministers.

“I’m glad you brought up that chronology, because it gives us a lot of insight into how these operations are prosecuted and how Israelis act on the ground in terms of civilian casualties. Kirby told Raddatz because it shows the level of frustration he has felt.

“So we’ve become increasingly frustrated. And again, this is the core message that the president conveyed to Prime Minister Netanyahu on the phone this week… last week… We have to act, we have to make changes,” he continued.

Israeli military operations have come under scrutiny after six World Central Kitchen employees and a Palestinian driver were killed in an Israeli airstrike as they were leaving a warehouse in central Gaza last week. surfaced.

At the time of the strike, the workers had just delivered about 100 tons of food aid to a warehouse and were driving through a “non-conflict zone” in a labeled armored vehicle.

Biden met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a few days later, urging the Israeli leader to reach a cease-fire agreement that would include the release of remaining hostages in the Gaza Strip and a moratorium on fighting in the war-torn enclave. did.

Biden warned that U.S. war policy depends on Israel’s ability to better protect civilians and humanitarian workers following the WCK worker’s death. It marks a marked change for Biden and his team since the civil war erupted last October when Hamas killed nearly 1,200 people in a surprise attack.

Kirby said Sunday that Netanyahu had “promised” Biden that he would make changes to Israel’s military operations.

“There were some announcements made early in the morning, which we welcome,” Kirby said. “We have to see more. We have to take the time to look at it.”

Immediately after the deadly airstrike, the Israeli military released a preliminary investigation, saying the military had mistakenly believed the convoy carrying the workers to be armed Hamas fighters. The charity said their movements had been communicated to the military in advance.

Last week, the Israeli military announced that it had dismissed two officers and reprimanded those involved, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that the Israeli military would work to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

Kirby said on Sunday that the United States was also considering an investigation, but “no conclusions have been reached.”

“This was an inspector general type of investigation,” he said. “So it was outside the chain of command. But again, we’re working to get through it.”

José Andrés, a celebrity chef and founder of food charity World Central Kitchen (WCK), spoke with Raddatz last week and said the drone could not see the WCK logo on top of the car in the dark. He said he had doubts about Israel’s claims. .

Asked if Andres was right to question the claim, Kirby said he didn’t know.

“We haven’t seen any obvious specific footage as far as I know, so it’s hard to know what the footage they saw during the night was,” Kirby said. “Certainly, night operations can be more difficult. However, there are technologies that can burn through the darkness to see into bedrooms, and use drones and various infrared technologies.”

“But I don’t know what they were using from a technology standpoint to look into this, but obviously they’re admitting that they clearly made a mistake here. What really matters is: “We must take future steps to ensure this does not happen again and be transparent about those actions,” he added.