CBS's
Ed O'Keefe asked National Security Council spokesman John Kirby what
level of assault on the Palestinians in Rafah would trigger a change in
U.S. policy towards Israel
at Tuesday's WH briefing.
"Has the president seen the images?" O'Keefe asked. "How many more
charred corpses does he have to see before the president considers a
change in policy?"
"I kind of take a little offense at the question," Kirby said. "No
civilian casualties is the right number of civilian casualties."
"But the president doesn't have like a personal limit to this?"
JOHN KIRBY, BIDEN ADMINISTRATION: As soon as we saw these
reports over the weekend about the strike, we reached out to the Israeli
Defense Forces at various levels to gather more information, and we've
been actively engaged with the IDF and with partners on the ground to
learn more about what happened. I'll note that the Israeli Defense
Forces today released initial findings, initial findings, that point to
the fire being caused by a secondary explosion, not the initial strike.
I think this speaks very clearly to the challenge of military air
strikes in densely populated areas of Gaza, including Rafah, because of
the risk of civilian casualties, which of course happened terribly in
this case, a horrible loss of life. We're glad that the Israeli Defense
Force -- Forces are doing a full investigation, which we believe is
going to be very important to try to prevent future such mishaps.
With that, I can take some questions.
ED O'KEEFE, CBS NEWS: Thanks. Admiral, can you explain how the strike in
Rafah does not cross the lines that the president has set and many of
you have repeated, that the -- that the operations be targeted and
limited?
JOHN KIRBY: We still don't believe that a major ground operation in
Rafah is warranted. We still don't want to see the Israelis, as we say,
smash into Rafah with large units over a -- of a -- over a large pieces
of territory. We still believe that and we haven't seen that at this
point, but we're going to be watching this, of course, very, very
closely.
I want to just end this -- this answer by making it very clear that,
regardless, every single loss of innocent life is tragic and every
single loss of innocent life should be prevented as much as possible.
QUESTION: Has the president seen the images?
JOHN KIRBY: I don't know. I can't speak to what --
QUESTION: And he's been briefed on it?
JOHN KIRBY: He has absolutely been. He's been kept apprised throughout the weekend on this.
QUESTION: So, you're saying that the tent -- the tent encampment that was first struck is considered a densely populated area?
JOHN KIRBY: The whole area of Rafah, Ed, is densely populated. Now,
there has been a million or so who have evacuated Rafah proper, but it's
not like they're going all that far away. The whole area is densely
populated.
QUESTION: So, how does this not violate the red line that the president laid out?
JOHN KIRBY: As I said, we don't want to see a major ground operation. We haven't seen that at this point.
QUESTION: How many more charred corpses does he have to see before the president considers a change in policy?
JOHN KIRBY: We don't want to see a single more innocent life taken. And I
kind of take a little offense at the question. No civilian casualties
is the right number of civilian casualties. And this is not something
that we've turned a blind eye to, nor has it been something we've
ignored or neglected to raise with our Israeli counterreports including,
Ed, this weekend as a result of this particular strike. Now, they're
investigating it. So let's let them investigate it and see what they
come up with.
QUESTION: But the president doesn't have like a personal limit to this?
JOHN KIRBY: The president has been very clear and very direct about what
our expectations are for Israeli operations in Rafah specifically, but
in Gaza writ large. We don't support, we won't support a major ground
operation in Rafah and we've again been very consistent on that. And the
president said, that should that occur, then it might make him have to
make different decisions in terms of support.
We haven't seen that happen at this point.
QUESTION: Why not have him come out and say that himself?
JOHN KIRBY: The president has been speaking to leaders throughout the
region on a regular basis. He has been addressing you guys in various
fora. You've got plenty of opportunities to talk to the president,
including I might add in a press conference last week.