White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked if the Biden administration believes war crimes are taking place amid the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
Throughout her Monday press briefing, Psaki faced a number of questions where she was asked to outline the White House’s approach to the violence in Gaza and their efforts toward de-escalation. At one point, PBS’s Yamiche Alcindor asked Psaki, “Does President Biden think that there are any war crimes being committed right now in the Middle East?”
Alcindor based her question on a New York Times article that focused on possible war crimes Israel and Hamas committed against civilians who’ve been caught in the crossfire of recent missile strikes.
“We’re not gonna be making an assessment of that from here,” Psaki responded. “Our objective is on taking every step we can to reduce the violence, to deescalate the situation on the ground, to save lives, to ensure that we are bringing some stability back on the ground.”
“Is the president at all concerned just about the number of civilians that are being killed?” Alcindor followed up. “That’s why some of these experts are telling the Times that these are war crimes.”
“Every life lost is a tragedy,” Psaki answered as she referred back to the Biden administration’s de-escalation attempts.
Watch above (start at 31:00), via NBC.