California
\nIsrael\u2019s victory over Hamas will become a \u201cstrategic defeat\u201d if the country doesn\u2019t prevent civilian casualties during its military operation in Gaza, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has said.
\nWashington \u201cwill continue to press Israel to protect civilians and to ensure the robust flow of humanitarian aid\u201d into Gaza, Austin vowed on Saturday, in a speech at the Reagan National Defense Forum at Simi Valley, California.
\n\u201cThe center of gravity is the civilian population and if you drive them into the arms of the enemy, you replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat,\u201d the Pentagon chief said, implying that indiscriminate attacks on Gaza by Israel could prompt even more Palestinians to join the ranks of the Hamas armed group.
\n\u201cIt would compound this tragedy if all that awaited Israelis and Palestinians at the end of this awful war was more insecurity, more rage and more despair,\u201d Austin added.
\nAt least 193 people have been killed since the IDF renewed its offensive in Gaza after the breakdown of the truce on Friday, Gaza\u2019s health ministry said. The overall death toll from attacks on the Palestinian enclave since October 7, when Hamas launched its deadly incursion into Israel, stands at over 15,200, according to the ministry.
\n\u201cYou can only win in urban warfare by protecting civilians,\u201d Austin, a retired general and former commander of US forces in the Middle East, insisted. He also suggested that a two-state solution, in which the Israelis and the Palestinians would \u201cfind a way to share the land that they both call home,\u201d is still the \u201conly viable\u201d way out of the conflict.
\nHowever, the Pentagon chief stressed that it\u2019s Israel\u2019s duty to respond to the attack by Hamas. The US remains Israel\u2019s \u201cclosest friend in the world\u201d and will continue to support the country, he promised.
\nAn Israeli official told the Times of Israel paper on Sunday that the country has put in place a deconfliction mechanism to prevent harm to human-rights workers and civilians in Gaza during the IDF\u2019s operations against Hamas. \u201cWe learned lessons from our northern Gaza operations and we are implementing them,\u201d the source claimed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
California Israel\u2019s victory over Hamas will become a \u201cstrategic defeat\u201d if the country doesn\u2019t prevent civilian casualties during its military operation in Gaza, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has said. Washington \u201cwill continue to press Israel to protect civilians and to ensure the robust flow of humanitarian aid\u201d into Gaza, Austin vowed on Saturday, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372105,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-372090","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n