National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby Says a Cease-Fire Right Now "Only Benefits Hamas"

TIME

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby says the call for a cease-fire right now "only benefits Hamas."

Transcript

00:00 All I can tell you is we're going to continue to make sure Israel has the tools and the

00:05 capabilities that they need to defend themselves.

00:07 We're going to continue to try to get that humanitarian assistance in.

00:09 We're going to continue to try to get hostages and people out of Gaza appropriately.

00:14 And as I think you've heard us say, a ceasefire right now really only benefits Hamas.

00:21 That's where we are right now.

00:22 And I understand the question, but I'm just not going to get ahead of where things are.

00:26 As I said from the beginning, we want to see all measure of protection for civilians.

00:31 And pauses in operation is a tool and a tactic that can do that for temporary periods of

00:37 time.

00:38 That is not the same as saying a ceasefire.

00:40 Again, right now we believe a ceasefire benefits Hamas, a general ceasefire.

00:44 This is war.

00:45 It is combat.

00:46 It is bloody.

00:48 It is ugly.

00:49 And it's going to be messy.

00:51 And innocent civilians are going to be hurt going forward.

00:54 And I wish I could tell you something different.

00:56 I wish that that wasn't going to happen.

00:59 But it is going to happen.

01:01 And that doesn't make it right.

01:03 It doesn't make it dismissible.

01:06 It doesn't mean that we aren't going to still express concerns about that and do everything

01:10 we can to help the Israelis do everything they can to minimize it.

01:15 But that's unfortunately the nature of conflict.

01:18 He's been talking, again, to Prime Minister Netanyahu, and we've been speaking to the

01:22 Israelis again since the very early hours of this two weeks ago, that respect for human

01:28 life, respect for the civilian population in Gaza, making sure that they can continue

01:33 to get access to food, water, medicine, and electrical power remains critical.

01:37 It's important.

01:38 And that's why he worked so hard on this last trip last week to do exactly that, by getting

01:44 the Israelis and the Egyptians to agree for humanitarian assistance to get in.

01:47 Q What is the primary obstacle to the ability for that aid to arrive at the pace the President

01:51 would be satisfied by?

01:52 MR KIRBY: I know it would be very tempting and satisfying for us to just sort of pin

01:56 the tail on the donkey here, but there's a lot of factors at play here.

02:01 And if it was easy, my goodness, there'd be hundreds of trucks flowing in every day.

02:07 It's a combat zone, Peter.

02:09 It's a war zone.

02:10 And that greatly complicates the ability to move safely and to the right of recipients,

02:16 the customers, that kind of humanitarian aid.

02:19 So there's lots of players involved here.

02:21 Hamas is obviously a player.

02:23 Israel's a player.

02:24 Egypt's a player.

02:25 The UN is a player.

02:26 And Ambassador Satterfield is working this as hard as he can.

02:29 Unfortunately, today we haven't seen any trucks go in.

02:32 We'll see what the hours to come bring.

02:34 Q Israeli officials have told CNN that they do not support any transfer of fuel into Gaza,

02:41 which Hamas has said is required for any sort of deal to release hostages.

02:45 Does the U.S. support that position?

02:47 MR KIRBY: We have said – continue to say that fuel is an important commodity for life

02:53 and sustainment in Gaza for the Palestinian people that are still there.

02:57 And we know that fuel is a precious commodity that's running out, and you need it for

03:02 generators and hospitals.

03:03 You need it to run the desalination pumps so that you can drink fresh water and not

03:06 sea water.

03:08 All of that is important.

03:09 And so we're going to continue to work with partners in the region.

03:12 We're going to continue to push for fuel to get in.

03:15 Now, look, that said – I said this again yesterday – we certainly understand Israeli

03:20 concerns about the possibility for Hamas to abscond with fuel and use it for their own

03:28 purposes and not allow it to be used in hospitals and desalination plants.

03:32 We understand that.

03:33 That is a legitimate concern, no question about it, which is why, again, Ambassador

03:37 Satterfield is on the ground working this so hard.

03:40 There's a balance here that has to be achieved.

03:42 Obviously, we haven't achieved it yet, but we still believe, just in general, that fuel

03:48 needs to be able to get into the people of Gaza.

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