Reporters Gang Up on State Dept. Spokesman Who Has No Answers on Viral Video of White Flag Waving Palestinian Shot Dead

Several reporters took turns grilling State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vendant Patel about a viral video showing a man in Gaza being shot dead while waving a white flag. A cameraman for ITV News in the U.K. captured footage.

“The video shows a group of men standing with their hands up and waving a white flag as they seek to evacuate their families from a building in Al Mawasi in southern Gaza, a former so-called ‘safe zone,'” Mediaite’s David Gilmour noted on Wednesday. “The victim, identified as Ramzi Abu Sahloul, had just spoken to ITV News explaining that he was trying to get his mother and brother out of the building.”

Just moments later, Sahloul was shot. When reached for comment, the Israel Defense Forces called the video “clearly edited” and did not comment further.

Israel has been waging war in Gaza since Hamas carried out the Oct. 7 terrorists attacks that killed 1,200 Israelis. In response, the IDF has waged a military campaign in the territory of 2.3 million and killed more than 25,000 Gazans, or more than one percent of the population. Eighty-five percent of the population has been displaced.

President Joe Biden has supported Israel’s operation unwaveringly and has twice bypassed Congress to sell weapons to the Israeli government. He also vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire.

During Wednesday’s State Department press briefing, Patel faced an onslaught of questions about the killing, beginning with Robert Moore of ITV News. He was later joined by Humeyra Pamuk of Reuters and Matt Lee of the Associated Press.

MOORE: You may have had the chance to see some of the footage shot by our cameraman in the Gaza Strip – widely shared online – showing a group of men waving a white flag, representing no threat whatsoever, unarmed and moving south to try and reach some relatives. The IDF opened fire as you can see on that video and killed one of them, Abu Sahloul. I wonder what your response to that is and whether you think from watching that video, whether that potentially represents a war crime.

PATEL: I have seen the, the that footage. But, I, I’m not going to comment on the specifics around that, given I’m not aware of the full circumstances on the ground. And as we’ve said before, this is not an American operation, but beyond that–

MOORE: Nevertheless–

PATEL:Please. I’m happy to take your questions, if you’ll allow me. If you allow me to answer, I don’t interrupt you, and I ask you to not do the same. As a general matter, though, we have not parsed our words about the moral and strategic imperative that the government of Israel and the Israeli security forces have to take every effort possible to minimize civilian casualties and minimize impact on civilians. As it relates to the footage that your organization has shared, again, I’m just going to refrain from commenting on specific operations, as we do not have full circumstances of what on the ground from here. This isn’t an American, operation. I’m not on the ground there to speak to the,full parameters of the situation. But again–

MOORE: It’s not–

PATEL: Any civilian death, any civilian death is heartbreaking. And any civilian life lost is one too many. And we have made that clear, with the Israelis. And we’ll continue to do so.

MOORE: Beyond that comment about it being heartbreaking, which is a platitude we often hear, would you urge – given that your you support broadly support the IDF operations in the Gaza Strip – would you support an Israeli investigation of what happened in that video given that they’re waving a white flag that represented no threat.

PATEL:  That is for the IDF to, to undertake and determine, based on the circumstances of that situation. What I will say is that we have been clear to our Israeli partners that they need to take every possible measure to avoid civilian harm during an operation and investigate credible allegations of law or war violations when they arise. But that is for our Israeli partners in the IDF to speak to.

PAMUK: Just on this, Vendant. You said we don’t have the full facts or something like that in a minute. Like, did you actually reach out specifically to Israel about this footage and try to get whatever the facts that they’re seeking?

PATEL: This footage just arised [sic] earlier this morning, so I don’t have any specifics of of our diplomatic conversations around it– around this to speak to.

LEE: Alright, how about the footage that arose last week and the week before and the week before and the week before and the week before where there have been, you know, if not similar, awfully close instances? Have you ever gotten an explanation from the Israelis? Have you ever gotten a finding from the Israelis of what their investigation, if they promised one?

PATEL: I’m not going to speak to private diplomatic conversations, Matt. But this is something that we raised continuously with the Israelis. The Secretary has done so. Other officials and our government have done so and we’ll continue to do it.

LEE: Alright, well, have you ever gotten an answer from the Israelis to those questions?

PATEL: I’m just not going to,8 I’m not going to speak to the privacy of certain diplomatic conversations, Matt. But we have been clear that there is a moral and strategic imperative to take as many steps as possible to minimize civilian casualties.

LEE: That’s fine. That’s fine that you say that. But then when you are asked specific questions like this relating to specific footage – and this is not the first time that this happened – you’ve been asked repeatedly about this, and then you come back and say, well, we’ve raised questions with you. We’ve asked the Israelis questions. Have you ever gotten a response to any of those?

PATEL: These conversations are–

LEE: I’m not asking you for the details. I just wanna know about–

PATEL: We have. These conversations are private. We have raised with the Israelis specific circumstances.

LEE: And you have gotten answers?

PATEL: Correct. I’m not going to speak to those conversations right now.

LEE: In any case, are you aware of, the Israelis say, we screwed up here?

PATEL: I’m just not going to speak to the private conversations, Matt.

PAMUK: Sounds like you haven’t had a chance to ask about this one. Are you planning to ask about this particular instance or no?

PATEL: I’m just not going to speak to specific diplomatic conversations. What I will just reiterate, Mara, is that we talk to our Israeli counterparts all the time, regularly, from various interlocutors across our government, and we’ll continue to. To do so and front and center. Part of those engagements will continue to be the moral, strategic imperative that our Israeli partners have to minimize the impact on civilians we on.

Watch above via the State Department.