President Biden’s administration warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the U.S. will be “watching” as Israel conducts an emergency meeting on Gaza aid Thursday.
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield issued a stark warning to Netanyahu’s regime during a U.N. Security Council briefing on Wednesday. The U.S. highlighted images from an Israeli airstrike that killed displaced Palestinians.
“Colleagues, this weekend, like so many of you – like so many people around the world – I watched in horror as images from Central Gaza poured across my screen. Images of what appeared to be displaced civilians burning alive following an Israeli air strike,” Thomas-Greenfield said.
“Israel has a responsibility to do everything possible to avoid civilian casualties, even if Hamas was operating near the hospital in an attempt to use civilians as human shields. We have made this clear to Israel,” she continued.
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President Biden’s administration warned Israel to ramp up its efforts to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza.
“A quote-unquote ‘policy of starvation’ in northern Gaza would be horrific and unacceptable and would have implications under international law and U.S. law,” she said of Israel’s ongoing deliberations.
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“The Government of Israel has said that this is not their policy, that food and other essential supplies will not be cut off, and we will be watching to see that Israel’s actions on the ground match this statement,” she continued.
Israeli soldiers take up position next to buildings destroyed by the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
The statement from the U.S. comes after the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a measure of food scarcity used by the U.N., said that nine in 10 Gazans will face “acute food scarcity” in the coming months.
The group further stated that roughly 41% of Gazans will face “catastrophic” levels of hunger.
Netanyahu’s administration held an emergency meeting on the issue this week. Israeli officials have been tight-lipped about what was discussed in the meeting, however.
The meeting comes amid a potential major victory for Israel, however, with officials investigating whether Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed in the Gaza Strip on Thursday.
Israeli forces may have eliminated Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar on Thursday. (AP)
Graphic images circulating on social media appear to show Israeli soldiers standing over Sinwar’s corpse. Israel has not officially confirmed his death, however.
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Referred to by Israel as the Butcher of Khan Younis for his violent and cruel torture methods against his enemies, both Israeli and Palestinian, Sinwar, 60, is widely seen as being behind the massacre of Israeli civilians carried out by thousands of Hamas militants on Oct. 7.
Fox News’ Greg Norman and Ruth Marks-Eglash contributed to this report
