John Kirby, who is a White House national security communications adviser, stated that the U.S. is waiting to see what Israel does in the next few hours and days, and U.S. policy is based on the protection of aid workers.
Kirby joined Fox News Channel’s “Your World with Neil Cavuto” Thursday shortly after President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talked on the phone for about half an hour, the first conversation since seven aid workers, including one American citizen, were killed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.
“What we need to see is more aid getting in, we need to see more effort applied to keeping humanitarian aid workers safe, and any change to our policy will be based on our assessment of the degree to which Israel complies with all of that,” Kirby said.
Seven aid workers from World Central Kitchen (WCK) were killed Monday, drawing sharp criticism of Israel’s continued bombardment in Gaza. President Biden released a statement Tuesday saying he was “outraged” at the news of the workers’ deaths.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took responsibility for the “unintended” airstrikes and described it as a “tragic event,” but also mentioned that these incidents occur in war.
Kirby mentioned that the conversation between the two leaders was “very direct” and covered a lot of ground. He stated that Biden expressed his frustration over the increasing number of civilian casualties, the risks faced by humanitarian aid workers, and his dissatisfaction with the lack of progress in increasing the volume of humanitarian assistance that reaches Gaza.
“So, the president made it very clear to Prime Minister Netanyahu that there’s going to need to be some changes,” Kirby said.
During the call, Biden pressured Netanyahu toward a cease-fire deal that would release the remaining hostages in Gaza.
Kirby mentioned that he believes it’s “fair to say” that Biden’s message was “fairly received” and Netanyahu understood where Biden was coming from.
Cavuto pressed Kirby, asking what the U.S. would do if more were killed. Kirby mentioned he doesn’t “want to get ahead” of the current situation because it’s a “terrific question” but also “a hypothetical one.”
