The White House kept up the pressure on Hamas to accept a cease-fire and hostage deal following Saturday’s Israeli hostage rescue mission, holding the terrorist group responsible for civilian deaths by embedding military installations among Palestinian non-combatants.
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday he was unable to confirm how many civilians died in the Israeli Defense Forces raid, which freed four hostages held since the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre of 1,200 Israeli civilians and others.
“Innocent people were tragically killed in this operation, the exact number we don’t know, but innocent people were killed, and that is heartbreaking, tragic,” Mr. Sullivan said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
The IDF estimated that fewer than 100 casualties resulted from the rescue operation, while the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said Sunday that 283 Palestinians were killed. Hamas does not distinguish between civilian and military deaths.
“The president himself has said in recent days that the Palestinian people are going through sheer hell in this conflict because Hamas is operating in a way that puts them in the crossfire,” Mr. Sullivan said. “That holds hostages right in the heart of crowded civilian areas, that puts military [placements] right in the heart of crowded civilian areas.”
He continued to urge Hamas to accept the cease-fire and hostage deal laid out by the Biden administration, saying the agreement “would obviously be the best solution to this.’
“In the absence of that, without Hamas saying yes to the deal, unfortunately we are going to continue to see ongoing conflict and military operations in which Israel makes efforts to recover its citizens and frankly to recover American citizens,” said Mr. Sullivan.
.@JakeSullivan46 confirms to @DanaBashCNN that “innocent people were tragically killed” during Israel’s hostage rescue operation and says that a ceasefire and hostage deal is the only way to prevent more loss of life.
Tune in at 9am ET for the full interview. pic.twitter.com/kPTrURI789
— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) June 9, 2024
The IDF identified the four hostages rescued in a residential neighborhood in Nuseirat, a town in central Gaza, as Noa Argamani, 26; Almog Meir Jan, 22; Andrey Kozlov, 27; and Shlomi Ziv, 41.
About 120 hostages remain held by Hamas, including 15 women, two children under the age of five, and two men in their 80s, according to The Associated Press. » …
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