On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby stated that if getting the hostages held by Hamas released “requires some sort of humanitarian pause or pauses, then we’re obviously in support of that as well.”
Co-host Geoff Bennett asked, “You have said the U.S. welcomes a pause in the war to allow more time to get humanitarian aid in and hostages out. There are, of course, American hostages being held by Hamas right now. What’s the potential impact of this latest offensive on the effort to get those hostages released?”
Kirby responded, “I think that remains to be seen. Again, I’ll let the Israelis speak for their military operations. But what impact it might have on the ability to get hostages out, I think we’re just — it’s just too soon to know here, as things begin to unfold. We still stand by our strong desire to see all of those hostages released. And Hamas should do it immediately, and short of that, we’ve got to continue to work on negotiations to try to see that outcome, and we’re doing that. We’re doing that with our partners in Israel and throughout the region. We still think that that’s a task worth pursuing, and if that requires some sort of humanitarian pause or pauses, then we’re obviously in support of that as well.”
Bennett then asked, “But does it undermine the chances of a humanitarian pause?”
Kirby answered, “Again, I think it really remains to be seen, what happens on the ground there and what operations they conduct and how they conduct it. And, again, I just don’t want to get ahead of where we are or where they are in their execution of their plans.”
Later, Kirby rejected the idea of conditioning military aid to Israel on pauses.
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett