‘Does That Justify Striking a Hospital?’ Andrea Mitchell Presses John Kirby On Hamas Hiding Under Civilian Infrastructure In Gaza

MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell held White House Spokesman John Kirby’s feet to the fire Monday by repeatedly questioning whether unverified intelligence that Hamas was operating underneath Gaza’s hospitals justified Israel’s bombing campaign.

“Even if Israel’s claim that Hamas’ command and control is under Al-Shifa, as well as other hospitals, other Hamas units — even if that were to prove true — and my understanding is that the U.S. has not independently confirmed that intel — does that justify striking a hospital?” Mitchell asked.

“This is the extra burden that we’ve been talking about for the Israeli Defense Forces as they try to go after Hamas leaders,” Kirby said. “You’re right. I’m not going to speak about intelligence matters, but it’s open source reporting that Hamas headquarters themselves in things like hospitals and schools, and they have tunnels underneath residential complexes.”

Mitchell pressed on, “I know you don’t want to talk about intelligence, but I do have reporting, also, that there is some concern and pressure on the administration for Israel to produce more evidence about what they say is going on under the hospitals.”

“I would just say what I said before: It’s open source reporting. I mean, it’s out, it’s public, in the public domain that this is a tactic by Hamas. They do headquarter themselves in places of civilian infrastructure. Whether that’s schools or government buildings or hospitals,” Kirby answered.

“Just to be clear,” Mitchell continued. “I understand that they’ve done that before. There’s a lot of assumptions being made here, but I know at least that you don’t have independent corroboration about these specific instances. But, I understand you’re not going to talk about intel.”

“Yeah, again, I’m going to be careful about what I say around intelligence here, but again, it’s common knowledge this is a tactic for Hamas. They do this, they have done this for many, many years.”

Earlier, MSNBC aired heartbreaking video of premature newborns at Gaza’s largest hospital.

According to Reuters, “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel had offered fuel to Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital, which suspended operations after running out of fuel, but that the militants had refused to receive it.”

Netanyahu was asked if Israel has a plan to get fuel into Gaza to power hospitals. “We just offered Shifa hospital the fuel, they refused it,” Netanyahu said.

“Hamas, (which) is hiding in the hospitals and placing itself there, doesn’t want the fuel for the hospital … they want to get fuel that they’ll take from the hospitals to their tunnels, to their war machine.”

Hamas hasn’t commented on Netanyahu’s claims.

Watch the clip above via MSNBC.