White House Spox John Kirby Claims Israel Is Taking Actions to Protect Civilians That ‘I’m Not Sure Our Own Military Would Take’

White House spokesperson John Kirby said that the Israeli military is taking steps to minimize civilian casualties that not even the U.S. would take.

Kirby, who is a retired Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy, made the unusual comment for a U.S. government spokesperson during Tuesday’s White House press briefing.

In recent days, Israel has conducted strikes inside the Gazan city of Rafah, where 1.4 million Palestinians have sought refuge after the Israel Defense Forces invaded northern Gaza before advancing to the south. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the IDF will not stop until it destroys Hamas, which carried out the Oct 7. terror attacks that killed 1,200 Israelis.

Israel’s operation has killed more than 28,000 Palestinians according to Gazan officials and it has displaced more than 85% of the population of 2.3 million, which is enduring a humanitarian catastrophe.

During the briefing, a Niall Stanage of The Hill asked Kirby about the mounting death toll:

STANAGE: [F]or months we have heard people at that podium talk about, “the civilian death toll’s too high.” It’s too high [at] 5,000, 10,000, 15,000. Around 28,000 people have been killed. What does the White House base the assessment that Israel is receptive to is concerned?

KIRBY: As I said, we have seen them take actions – sometimes actions that that even I’m not sure our own military would take – in terms of informing civilian populations ahead of operations, where to go or not to go. They have taken steps. Now, obviously, those steps, while noteworthy, haven’t been enough to reduce the civilian casualties, which is why the president spoke so forthrightly about it yesterday and why we’re going to continue to do everything we can to press the Israelis to be more careful.

STANAGE: But respectfully, he’s been talking forcefully about it for a long time. And the Israelis are now– have hammered people into this tiny corner in southwest Gaza, tied up against the Egyptian border where people think that a looming catastrophe [inaudible]. Shouldn’t there be more forceful action than just words?

KIRBY: We are working very, very closely with our Israeli counterparts. We’ve made clear our concerns that we would not support a Rafah operation that did not properly count– account for the more than million refugees that are down and in Rafah. We’ve been very, very clear and consistent about that.

Watch above via the White House.