At a press gaggle by White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby last Friday, he was asked, “Do you have any updates on the state of Gaza ceasefire talks, especially in light of some back-and-forth comments between Israeli and some of the Hamas leaders on Wednesday that Al Jazeera and other outlets reported on?”
Kirby responded: “I would just add again that Hamas is the obstacle. As you get down towards what you believe is a conclusion of a negotiation, which we believe we are close to, it’s the specific details that become the issues over which the sides barter. And the closer you get to the end, the more detailed those discussions occur. And that’s where it gets more difficult, and that’s really where we are. And it is because of Hamas throwing up obstacles or refusing to move on any of these details that we are still not at a conclusion.”
Last September, National Unity Chairman Benny Gantz said in an official statement: “The Prime Minister presented several arguments, some weighty and some baseless. But the Prime Minister did not look the public directly in the eye and tell the truth: that he would not bring the hostages back alive. That he would not truly protect the southern barrier. That he would not return the residents of the north to their homes. That he would not prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. This did not surprise me, because during the period we sat in the war cabinet, Netanyahu delayed the ability to move forward with the hostage deals in a serial manner, including in the first outline.”
So much for this claim by the Israeli left against Netanyahu.
Kirby was also asked about “the strike that Israel conducted near a hospital on Thursday that left about 50 killed, including five hospital workers and five journalists.”
The NSC Advisor said, “We’ve said time and time and time again: hospitals should not be active scenes of combat and conflict. People should be able to — be able to feel safe going to a hospital, get the medical care that they desperately need. Sadly, we have seen in the past — again, time and time and time again — that Hamas uses civilian infrastructure, like schools and like hospitals, to store caches of weapons, to house fighters, to plan and coordinate.”
Regarding the persistent Houthi attacks on Israel, Kirby was asked, “Is President Biden committed to the destruction of the Houthis in Yemen before he leaves office?”
Kirby answered: “This is about destroying their ability to conduct these kinds of attacks. It’s not about wiping every Houthi fighter off the map. This is about preventing them from threatening commercial and, quite frankly, naval ship activity in and around the Red Sea, as well as helping degrade and prevent their ability to continue to launch drones and missiles at Israel. So that’s what this is about.
“We’re going to continue that effort. For as long as he’s Commander-in-Chief, we’re going to continue to conduct those kinds of strikes and continue to try to degrade those capabilities.”
Kirby said nothing about sending humanitarian aid to the Houthis, but he might as well have.
