The Biden administration wouldn’t be engaged in diplomatic efforts if it didn’t think there were still opportunities to reach ceasefire agreements in Gaza and Lebanon, National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby told reporters on Wednesday afternoon from the White House following another day of intense negotiations across the region.
Kirby declined to go into detail about Secretary of State Antony Blinken‘s meetings with Israeli officials but said “they had good, constructive conversations, specifically with respect to Gaza while he was in Israel.”
“But there’s still a lot of work before us,” he added.
Targeted Strikes
Kirby was pressed if the administration is still describing Israel’s strikes in Lebanon as targeted.
He responded that he wasn’t going to “scorecard” each and every strike the Israelis take, and Israel has a right to defend itself against the legitimate threat that Hezbollah still poses to the Israeli people.
He then followed up by saying the administration doesn’t support daily strikes into heavily populated areas and that “remains the case today.”
“We still pose daily strikes into densely populated areas, and we have had those conversations,” he said. “Secretary Blinken has had that exact conversation when he was in Israel for the last couple of days. We’ll continue to press the Israelis on that.”
Kirby was also questioned on the administration’s continued support for Israel’s Gaza operation given recent reporting of an increase in Palestinian deaths.
“We still support Israel’s right and responsibility to defend itself against these threats, including the continued threat of Hamas,” Kirby said. “And we still urge Israel to be mindful, ever mindful, of civilian casualties and the damage to civilian infrastructure, and we’re going to continue to work with them to that end.”
