WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden stated on Wednesday he has “no confidence in the quantity that the Palestinians are utilizing” for the death toll in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, the place the well being ministry says over 6,500 have been killed in Israeli assaults.
Biden was requested at a White Home press convention whether or not the death count, which the ministry says consists of some 2,700 kids, meant Israel was ignoring U.S. appeals to scale back civilian deaths in its bombardment of the coastal enclave.
“What they are saying to me is I’ve no notion that the Palestinians are telling the reality about how many individuals are killed. I am positive innocents have been killed, and it’s the worth of waging a conflict,” Biden stated.
“(The) Israelis must be extremely cautious to make sure that they’re specializing in going after the oldsters that (are) propagating this conflict towards Israel. And it is towards their curiosity when that does not occur,” Biden added.
“However I’ve no confidence in the quantity that the Palestinians are utilizing.”
Biden didn’t say why he was skeptical of the Palestinian figures.
Reuters has been unable to independently confirm casualty figures in the combating, which started with an Oct. 7 Hamas gun rampage in southern Israel that Israeli authorities say killed 1,400 folks.
Palestinians reject the notion that the Gaza death count is inaccurate.
Within the U.S., the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) stated it was “deeply disturbed” by Biden’s feedback on the Gaza figures, and referred to as on the president to apologize.
“Journalists have confirmed the excessive variety of casualties, and numerous movies popping out of Gaza on daily basis present mangled our bodies of Palestinian girls and kids,” CAIR Government Director Nihad Awad stated in an announcement.
Throughout Wednesday’s press convention, Biden stated that Hamas was “hiding behind Palestinian civilians” in the densely-populated enclave, placing “an added burden on Israel whereas they go after Hamas.”
Biden added: “Israel has to do all the things in its energy, as troublesome as it’s, to guard harmless civilians.”
(This story has been refiled so as to add a dropped phrase in Biden’s quote in paragraph 1)
(Reporting by Jeff Mason, Jarrett Renshaw, Kanishka Singh and Rami Ayyub; Modifying by Grant McCool)
