Kirby: We Want to See Some Changes in How Israel Is Executing Self-Defense Operations; ‘Too Many Civilians Have Been Killed’

EXCERPT:

KIRBY: “It’s hard to say right now, Neil. I know, It’s a great question, it’s a fair question, it’s the right question. Certainly, I’ve gotten it lots of times today, but I don’t want to get ahead of policy decisions the president hasn’t made. We’ve made it clear, that unless we see some policy changes on the Israeli part, we might have to make some policy changes on our part. So we’re going to watch and see, they’re expected to make some announcements in coming hours and days of ways they’re going to improve the efficacy of their targeting process, ways that they’re going to improve humanitarian assistance, ways they’re going to protect aid workers. We want to see those changes. Too many civilians have been killed. And if we don’t see those changes, well, then we’re going to have to make some changes and decisions of our own. That doesn’t mean — and this is an important point — it doesn’t mean that our support for the state of Israel is going down or that we don’t support Israel’s right to defend itself against these threats. But how they defend themselves against these threats, particularly Hamas, really does matter. And we want to see some changes in how they are executing those self-defense operations.”