Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said during a Security Council on Wednesday that Israel has a “responsibility to do everything possible to avoid civilian casualties” in the Gaza Strip, even if Hamas is “operating near the hospital in an attempt to use civilians as human shields.”
She gave these remarks at a briefing on the Middle East after addressing recent images circulating of “what appeared to be displaced civilians burning alive following an Israeli airstrike.”
She also highlighted recent updates on Israel’s policies relating to humanitarian aid in Gaza, including reopening the Erez border crossing; repairing alternate routes for assistance; and working with the World Food Program to improve humanitarian infrastructure that could “lead to the additional delivery of desperately needed food aid.”
Greenfield reiterated the Biden administration’s demands to increase food, supplies and other aid to Palestinians in Gaza.
The administration sent a letter this week to the government of Israel, stating that if they did not comply, Washington would initiate an arms embargo amid war with Hamas in the south and Hezbollah to the north.
The ambassador concluded her speech by condemning Hamas’s mass murder and other atrocities in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which continues with the holding of 101 people captive in Gaza.
She asked council members “to stop turning a blind eye to Hamas’s depraved deeds, its acts of terror, its hostage-taking, its obstruction of a ceasefire deal [and] its use of civilians as human shields.”
