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US envoy accuses Israel of ‘continued pattern of significant civilian harm’

"The fact that Hamas’s leaders and fighters hide among civilians does not lessen the requirement for Israel to conduct its operations in accordance with international humanitarian law," said Robert Wood, the deputy U.S. envoy to the United Nations.

Robert Wood, deputy U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, briefs reporters after closed Security Council consultations on the situation in the Middle East on Nov. 6, 2023 in New York. Credit: Eskinder Debebe/U.N. Photo.
Robert Wood, deputy U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, briefs reporters after closed Security Council consultations on the situation in the Middle East on Nov. 6, 2023 in New York. Credit: Eskinder Debebe/U.N. Photo.

The situation in Gaza is “dire,” and Washington remains “concerned regarding the situation in the West Bank,” Robert Wood, deputy U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said at a U.N. Security Council briefing on the situation in the Middle East on Wednesday.

“We are heartbroken and horrified by the deaths of dozens of Palestinian civilians and the more than 200 individuals who were seriously injured, including children, following an Israeli airstrike on May 26,” Wood said. “Words cannot capture the sense of loss the families, whose lives were shattered by this tragic incident, feel.”

“Israel said the civilian deaths were a mistake, potentially caused by secondary explosions, and that the strike was aimed at two senior Hamas terrorists who also died,” the U.S. envoy said. “We have urged Israel to do more to protect innocent Palestinian lives and to undertake a swift, transparent, and comprehensive investigation.”

Wood added that Washington has “emphasized that Israel must connect its military operations to a political strategy that can ensure the lasting defeat of Hamas, the release of all the hostages and a better future for the Palestinian people.”

“The continued pattern of significant civilian harm resulting from incidents like Sunday’s airstrikes undermines Israel’s strategic goals in Gaza,” he added.

Wood further condemned “attacks by violent extremist settlers on humanitarian aid convoys bound for Gaza, and against Palestinian civilians.”

Hamas terrorists have long been documented stealing aid intended for Palestinian civilians. U.S. officials have sometimes noted that in their remarks.

Human rights attorney Arsen Ostrovsky, the CEO of the International Legal Forum and a senior fellow at the Misgav Institute for National Security, told JNS that international law is clear that sites in which terrorists, like Hamas, embed in civilian areas become “legitimate military targets.”

“Any civilian death or harm that arises is therefore the sole responsibility of Hamas, especially in circumstances where the IDF went to extraordinary lengths to abide by the principles of proportionality and distinction, while taking every possible precaution to minimize harm to potential civilian casualties,” Ostrovsky said.

“The fact of the matter is, war is ugly and devastating. But not every error or unintentional loss in civilian life is necessarily a war crime,” Ostrovsky added. “We must not forget that, whereas Israel takes every precaution to avoid harm to civilians, Hamas has an utter disregard for human life, whether it be Palestinian or Israeli.”

The international community would “be far better served to direct their outrage at Hamas, which continues to embed themselves in civilian areas and cynically use Palestinians in Rafah and across Gaza as human shields,” Ostrovsky said.

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