On Tuesday’s “CNN News Central,” House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) stated that the unintentional deaths of World Central Kitchen employees by an Israeli airstrike shows that it’s crucial to get a ceasefire, but Hamas won’t agree to one and “part of the problem here is Hamas has been unaccountable in all of this. They have no incentive at this point.” Because “they seem to think that they’re winning the PR campaign. The U.N. refuses to even condemn Hamas while calling for a ceasefire” in a resolution the U.S. let pass “So, what’s going to force Hamas to accept that ceasefire at this point?” And he hopes “some pressure will be exerted on Hamas to accept what has been on the table for weeks now.”
Smith said that the incident “really underscores how important it is to get a ceasefire at this point in the conflict, something that the Biden administration has been trying to negotiate for several months now, and in the last, I don’t know, three, four weeks, there has been a clear offer on the table to exchange Palestinian prisoners for the Israeli hostages and get an extended ceasefire lasting over a month that Hamas has rejected. And it’s really — it’s hard for Israel to agree to a ceasefire without the release of the hostages. So, we need to get that agreement and Hamas needs to agree to what was put on the table. And then the second point is the need to increase humanitarian assistance in Gaza. I was there just a couple of weeks ago at the Rafah crossing and met with Israeli leadership, including the prime minister, and the lack of humanitarian assistance getting into Gaza is a major problem. It’s something that Israel needs to step up and increase, without question. But this incident, this tragic, terrible incident illustrates how hard that is to do while the fighting is going on. Now, even if the fighting continues, humanitarian assistance needs to increase, but we need to get a ceasefire to make sure that the humanitarian assistance can get in without these types of tragedies happening.”
He added, “I think, look, the humanitarian crisis that existed in Gaza — exists in Gaza right now is what the Biden administration is really concerned about and has been pushing. I think, certainly, this amplifies that problem. But it’s a horrific situation all the way around that the Biden administration is trying to find a way to get Israel and Hamas to get to a ceasefire. Now, I do think part of the problem here is Hamas has been unaccountable in all of this. They have no incentive at this point. Well, they have a clear incentive, and that is the protection of the Palestinian people, that does not seem to be a priority. But they seem to think that they’re winning the PR campaign. The U.N. refuses to even condemn Hamas while calling for a ceasefire. So, what’s going to force Hamas to accept that ceasefire at this point? Yes, it continues to push the Biden administration to find some solution to this, but it takes both Israel and Hamas to agree to that ceasefire right now. And I hope some pressure will be exerted on Hamas to accept what has been on the table for weeks now.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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