Israel’s position that Hamas must be ousted from Gaza is appropriate, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said on Thursday, while also stressing that Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip must be protected.
“They [Israel] want a situation where Hamas can never again govern and run Gaza in the way it has,” Miller told reporters in Washington.
“They want to ensure that Gaza is not a place where Hamas can continue to exist and launch terror attacks against Israel, which we believe is a legitimate and appropriate position that any country would take,” Miller said.
He spoke as the IDF prepared to launch a ground campaign in Gaza following 13 days of aerial attacks. Leaders of the world powers, including Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States who visited Israel this week, all appear to give a nod in support of a ground campaign.
At issue has been the goal of the campaign and the importance of protecting Palestinian civilians. To date, close to 4,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza either by Israeli aerial strikes or failed Palestinian rocket launches against Israel.
Israel has received support from Western leaders in light of the October 7 Hamas assault on the southern border in which more than 1,400 civilians and soldiers were killed, and another 200 people were taken hostage. Some 32 Americans were killed in the attack; another 11 are missing.
Evidence emerging of how Hamas in some cases burned people alive and dismembered its victims before shooting them, has struck an international nerve among top officials even as there has also been tremendous public support for Palestinians in Gaza.
Miller said, “Israel just suffered a massive terror attack something that is 10-15 times the impact of 9/11, on a per capita basis.
“Any country would defend itself in those situations,” he stressed.
One reporter pressed him, stating, “So we are talking about regime change” in Gaza?
“You can call it whatever you want, but they want Gaza not to be administered by a terrorist organization that is launching attacks that killed over 1,300 innocent civilians,” Miller said.
Operating within the bounds of international law
He emphasized that the US has underscored the importance of Israel’s operating the military campaign within the bounds of international law.
The US continues to engage with Israel “on how best they can achieve that goal while protecting innocent civilians from harm,” Miller said.
He spoke after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spent eight days in the region and US President Joe Biden visited Israel on Wednesday.
Miller said that Blinken created a framework for the humanitarian aid for the 2.3 million people who live in Gaza and Biden cemented it during his trip to Israel, both in his talks with Israeli officials and in his phone call to Egyptian President Abdul Fattah el-Sisi, Miller said.
Ambassador David Satterfield, the US Special Envoy for Middle East Humanitarian Issues, “met with Israeli and Egyptian officials today to develop the exact mechanism to implement the framework,” Miller said.
At issue is to create a safe passage for the aid through the Rafah border crossing and to ensure that Hamas does not divert it for military purposes. The US, he said, is also looking to safely evacuate Americans from the Gaza Strip, as well as create safe places for Palestinian civilians inside Gaza to shelter from bombings.
Biden spoke about the humanitarian assistance to Gaza on his way back to Washington from Israel early Thursday morning.
One of his main goals of the trip, he said, was “to get humanitarian aid into Gaza and to get as many Americans out who wanted to get out – could get out as possible.”
The top US general overseeing American troops in the Middle East made an unannounced trip to Egypt for talks on Thursday with Sisi that focused on the Israel-Hamas war and how to get aid to the Gaza Strip.
The only solution is to send it through the Rafah border crossing, which is the sole route for aid to enter Gaza directly from outside Israel. It is also the only exit that does not lead to Israeli territory. Both the Israeli crossings into Gaza are closed and were damaged in the fighting.
More than 100 trucks were waiting close to the crossing on the Egyptian side on Thursday, though it was not expected that aid would enter before Friday, Egyptian security sources said. More aid is being held in the Egyptian city of Al Arish, about 45 km. from Rafah.
A statement from Sisi’s office said the talks with US Army General Michael “Erik” Kurilla, head of US Central Command, included in particular “the developments in the Gaza Strip”.
“The president outlined Egypt’s efforts for de-escalation, stressing the importance of the international community’s concerted efforts to contain the crisis and stop its escalation in dangerous directions,” the statement said.
The meeting in Cairo, where Kurilla also met Egypt’s Defense Minister Muhammed Zaki, came as Washington and Egypt have been pushing for a deal with Israel to get aid deliveries to Gaza.
Sisi’s office said delivering aid in a “sustainable manner” was a top priority given deteriorating humanitarian conditions.
Egypt has also been alarmed at the idea that Israel’s unprecedented bombardment and siege of Gaza could force its residents southward.
Sisi, who met on Thursday with Jordan’s King Abdullah, has said he will not allow any new mass displacement of Palestinians. Both leaders have called for a ceasefire.
Jordan’s foreign minister said on Thursday that the country feared the worst was yet to come in the Gaza war, with no signs of a success in efforts to de-escalate.
In remarks at a press conference with his German counterpart, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said a Gaza war would have “catastrophic repercussions” and urged “protecting the region from the danger of its expansion.”“The catastrophe will have painful consequences in coming periods,” Safadi said, adding that diplomatic efforts were not yielding any results in ending the conflict.
“The decision to end the war is not with us, it’s with Israel and we must exert all efforts to end it,” Safadi said.Safadi said that the kingdom would confront “with all its means” a mass displacement of Palestinians that results in demographic or geographic changes to the region.
“We won’t accept such a solution. This is a red line and will mean a new war,” he added.
Reuters contributed to this report.