WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President mentioned 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 battle,” Biden mentioned.
“(The) Israelis needs to be extremely cautious to make certain that they’re specializing in going after the parents that (are) propagating this battle in opposition to Israel. And it is in opposition to 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 individuals.
Palestinians reject the notion that the Gaza death count is inaccurate.
Within the U.S., the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) mentioned it was “deeply disturbed” by Biden’s feedback on the Gaza figures, and known as on the president to apologize.
“Journalists have confirmed the excessive variety of casualties, and numerous movies popping out of Gaza day by day present mangled our bodies of Palestinian ladies and youngsters,” CAIR Govt Director Nihad Awad mentioned in a press release.
Throughout Wednesday’s press convention, Biden mentioned 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 every thing 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)
