‘Civilians Are Civilians!’ CNN’s Jake Tapper Decries Children Killed — Water and Electricity Blockade In Gaza

CNN anchor Jake Tapper decried the suffering in Gaza caused by Israel’s retaliation, asking Biden National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan how that differs from the Russian actions the U.S. condemned in Ukraine.

Sullivan was a guest on Sunday morning’s edition of CNN’s State of the Union to discuss the situation in Israel.

JAKE TAPPER: I mean, you say you stand for the rule of law again. Hamas is vile. What they did eight days ago, they’re targeting civilians. It’s horrific. But what’s going on right now is not just a punishment of Hamas. More than 700 children have been reportedly killed in Gaza. And obviously, electricity, food, water supplies have been cut off by Israel to the totality of Gaza.

Obviously, the blockade is not just by Israel, it’s by Egypt, too. Take a listen to what Secretary [of State Antony] Blinken said last year when Putin was targeting Ukrainian infrastructure.

SEC. ANTONY BLINKEN: Heat. Water. Electricity. For children. For the elderly. For the sick. These are [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin’s new targets. He’s hitting them hard. This brutalization of Ukraine’s people is barbaric.

JAKE TAPPER: Now, look, Israel is not Russia. Gaza is not Ukraine. It’s a different situation. But cutting off supplies, cutting off heat, cutting off water to civilians. What’s the difference?

JAKE SULLIVAN: Well, first, thank you for saying that Israel is not Russia, because Israel is not Russia–

JAKE TAPPER: Civilians are civilians, Jake! Civilians are civilians!

JAKE SULLIVAN: Yes, absolutely they are. And they deserve, as I said before, access to water and medicine and food. And we are working actively to ensure that that happens. And I can tell you this morning, Jake, that I have been in touch with my Israeli counterparts just within the last hour who report to me that they have, in fact, turned the water pipe back on in southern Gaza. That has been the subject of discussion over the course of the past few days.

The United States is going to continue working with Israel, with the U.N., with Egypt, with Jordan, and with a lot of the groups on the ground to make sure that innocent Palestinians get access to those basic necessities and are protected from bombardment because they deserve that right, the right to those necessities and the right to safety and security every bit as much as Ukrainian civilians do or civilians anywhere do. And the United States hasn’t made any bones about that. We’re working hard on that. We’re working to make sure that that is the case as this unfolds. And it’s something that has been a high priority for President Biden, for Secretary Blinken, and for myself.

JAKE TAPPER: But you’re not telling the Israelis to let the Palestinian hospitals have power.

JAKE SULLIVAN: Our position is that hospitals should be able to function. Hospitals should not be targeted. People should be able to get access to lifesaving medical care. We don’t qualify these statements. We don’t say that there is some kind of caveat to them. These are simple, clear, declarative statements. It is our position that’s consistent with the law of armed conflict, the law of war. It’s consistent with our view as we have presented it. And I would just say, Jake, that there’s a lot of reports in the fog of war about things that happen. We’re not going to respond to every one of those because we will seek clarity in the appropriate way. But we will never back off our basic principles and our basic proposition, which we have made both publicly and privately about our view about how civilians have to be protected.

JAKE TAPPER: I haven’t asked you of any of the fog of war stories, I’ve seen stories that blame Israel for things that later on it turns out Hamas did them. I get it. I understand. But we have reports and I’m sure you have them, too, that hundreds of the individuals stuck in Gaza are American citizens. You know that, too. There are also hundreds of thousands of Americans in Israel that are trying to get out also. And the Biden administration is doing a lot to get those individuals out. 29 of the individuals killed by Hamas were American. And there are, I think what is it like something like 40 Americans that are unaccounted for who were maybe taken prisoner by Hamas.

Watch above via CNN’s State of the Union.