Geneva:

Palestinian health authorities say Israel’s ground and air campaign in Gaza has killed more than 38,000 people, mostly civilians, and driven most of the enclave’s 2.3 million people from their homes.

The war began on Oct. 7 when Hamas operatives rushed across the border into Israeli communities. Israel says the operatives killed more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and dragged 253 into captivity in Gaza.

This explainer examines how the Palestinian death count is calculated, how reliable it is, the breakdown of civilians and fighters killed and what each side says.

HOW DO GAZA HEALTH AUTHORITIES CALCULATE THE DEATH COUNT?

In the first months of the war, death counts were calculated entirely from counting bodies that arrived in hospitals and data included names and identity numbers for most of those killed.

As the conflict ground on, and fewer hospitals and morgues continued to operate, the authorities adopted other methods too.

From early May, the Health Ministry updated its breakdown of total fatalities to include unidentified bodies which account for nearly a third of the overall deaths. Omar Hussein Ali, head of the ministry’s emergency operations centre in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, said these were bodies that had arrived at hospitals or medical centres without personal data such as identity numbers or full names.

It also began including deaths reported online by family members who had to input information including identity numbers.

IS THE GAZA DEATH COUNT COMPREHENSIVE?

The numbers “do not necessarily reflect all victims due to the fact that many victims are still missing under the rubble”, the Palestinian Health Ministry says. In May it estimated that some 10,000 bodies were uncounted in this way.

The Lancet medical journal published a letter from three academics on July 5 estimating that indirect deaths, caused by factors such as disease, might mean the death count is several times higher than official Palestinian estimates.

The letter said it was “not implausible to estimate that up to 186,000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza”.

The authors said the figure, which made global headlines, was based on what they said was the conservative estimate of four indirect deaths to one direct death based on trends from prior conflicts.

The U.N. human rights office and the Humanitarian Research Lab at the Yale School of Public Health have also said during the conflict that the true figures are likely higher than those published, without giving specifics.

HOW CREDIBLE IS THE GAZA DEATH COUNT?

Pre-war Gaza had robust population statistics and better health information systems than in most Middle East countries, public health experts told Reuters.

A spokesperson for the World Health Organisation said the ministry has “good capacity in data collection/analysis and its previous reporting has been considered credible”.

The United Nations regularly cites the ministry’s death count figures, while naming the ministry as the source.

Early in the conflict, after U.S. President Joe Biden cast doubt on casualty figures, the health ministry published a detailed list of the 7,028 deaths that had been registered by that point.

Academics looking at details of listed casualties said in a peer-reviewed article in the Lancet medical journal in November that it was implausible that the patterns shown in the list could be the result of fabrication.

However, there are specific questions over the inclusion of 471 people said to have been killed in an Oct. 17 blast at al-Ahli al-Arab hospital in Gaza City. An unclassified U.S. intelligence report estimated that death count “at the low end of the 100 to 300 spectrum”.

DOES HAMAS CONTROL THE FIGURES?

While Hamas has run Gaza since 2007, the enclave’s Health Ministry also answers to the overall Palestinian Authority ministry in Ramallah in the West Bank.

Gaza’s Hamas-run government has paid the salaries of all those hired in public departments since 2007, including in the Health Ministry. The Palestinian Authority still pays the salaries of those hired before then.

The extent of Hamas control in Gaza now is difficult to assess with Israeli forces occupying most of the territory, including around locations of major hospitals that provide casualty figures, and with fighting ongoing.

WHAT DOES ISRAEL SAY?

Israeli officials have said the figures are suspect because of Hamas’ control over government in Gaza. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Mamorstein said the numbers were manipulated and “do not reflect the reality on the ground”.

However, Israel’s military has also accepted in briefings that the overall Gaza casualty numbers are broadly reliable.

In May, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said 14,000 Hamas fighters and 16,000 Palestinian civilians had been killed in the war.

HOW MANY CIVILIANS HAVE BEEN KILLED?

The Health Ministry figures do not differentiate between civilians and Hamas combatants, who do not wear formal uniform or carry separate identification.

Israel periodically provides estimates of how many Hamas fighters it believes have been killed. The most recent was Netanyahu’s estimate of 14,000.

Israeli security officials say such estimates are reached through a combination of counting bodies on the battlefield, intercepts of Hamas communications and intelligence assessments of personnel in targets that were destroyed.

Hamas has said Israeli estimates for its losses are exaggerated but has not said how many of its fighters have been killed.

The Palestinian Health Ministry says more than 70% of the dead are women and children. For most of the conflict its figures showed children as representing slightly over 40% of all those killed.

However, conditions in hospitals compiling figures have worsened amid the fighting and many of those killed may not be identifiable due to their injuries.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Palestinians walk near houses destroyed in the Israeli military offensive as they struggle with food scarcity, basic necessities amid the conflict between Israel and Hamas continues, in Jabalia refugee camp, in the northern Gaza Strip, on June 19, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will on July 4 evening convene a meeting of his security cabinet to discuss proposals from Hamas about a possible ceasefire deal in Gaza, a source in Netanyahu’s office said.

Before the cabinet meets, Mr. Netanyahu will have consultations with his ceasefire negotiations team, the source also said.

A man holds a bag as Palestinians search for casualties at the site of Israeli strikes on houses, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Gaza City, on June 22, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

At least 42 people were killed in Israeli attacks on districts of Gaza City in the north of the Palestinian enclave on June 22, the director of the Hamas-run government media office said.

One Israeli strike on houses in Al-Shati, one of the Gaza Strip’s eight historic refugee camps, killed 24 people, Ismail Al-Thawabta told Reuters. Another 18 Palestinians were killed in a strike on houses in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood.

The Israeli military released a brief statement saying: “A short while ago, IDF fighter jets struck two Hamas military infrastructure sites in the area of Gaza City.”

It said more details would be released soon.

Hamas did not comment on the Israeli claim to have hit its military infrastructure. It said in a statement the attacks targeted the civilian population and vowed in a statement “the occupation and its Nazi leaders will pay the price for their violations against our people.”

Footage obtained by Reuters showed dozens of Palestinians rushing out to search for victims amid the destroyed houses. The footage showed wrecked homes, blasted walls, and debris and dust filling the street in Shati refugee camp.

Israel’s ground and air campaign in Gaza was triggered when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and seizing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

The offensive has left Gaza in ruins, killed more than 37,400 people, of whom 101 were killed in the past 24 hours, according to Palestinian health authorities, and left nearly the entire population homeless and destitute.

More than eight months into the war, Israel’s advance is now focused on the two last areas its forces had yet to seize: Rafah on Gaza’s southern edge and the area surrounding Deir al-Balah in the centre.

Residents said Israeli tanks deepened their incursion into western and northern Rafah areas in recent days. On June 22 Israeli forces bombed several areas from air and the ground, forcing many families living in areas described as humanitarian-designated zones to leave northwards.

The Israeli military said forces continued “precise, intelligence-based” targeted operations in Rafah, killing many Palestinian gunmen and dismantling military infrastructure.

On June 21, the Gaza Health Ministry said at least 25 Palestinians were killed in Mawasi in western Rafah and 50 wounded. Palestinians said a tank shell hit a tent housing displaced families.

The Israeli military said that the incident was under review. “An initial inquiry conducted suggests that there is no indication that a strike was carried out by the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) in the Humanitarian Area in Al-Mawasi,” it said.

New Delhi:

The Rafah refugee camp in Gaza witnessed scenes of horror and devastation in the wake of an Israeli airstrike on Sunday. Tents were engulfed in flames, and the cries of burn victims filled the air after the attack, which the Gaza Health Ministry attributed to Israeli forces targeting displaced Palestinians seeking refuge in camps. 

Gaza’s civil defence agency reported that the death count had risen to 45 from the overnight strikes, which ignited tents and sparked widespread condemnation across the globe. The agency described the aftermath as a “massacre,” with many bodies charred beyond recognition and numerous victims suffering severe injuries.

“We saw charred bodies and dismembered limbs,” said Mohammad al-Mughayyir, an official from the civil defence agency, as quoted by news agency AFP. “We also saw cases of amputations, wounded children, women, and the elderly.”

Footage captured by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society showed chaotic scenes as paramedics worked tirelessly to evacuate the wounded, including many children. The night was filled with the sounds of sirens and the anguished cries of survivors.

“We had just finished evening prayers,” recalled one survivor. “Our children were asleep when we heard a loud sound, and suddenly there was fire all around us. The children were screaming… the sound was terrifying.”

The Israeli army claimed that their aircraft had targeted a Hamas compound in Rafah, resulting in the deaths of two senior Hamas operatives, Yassin Rabia and Khaled Nagar. They acknowledged reports of civilian casualties due to the strike and the subsequent fire, stating that the incident was under investigation.

The airstrike provoked strong reactions from neighbouring Arab nations. Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, and Qatar condemned the attack, with Qatar warning that it could hinder ongoing efforts to revive truce and hostage release talks in the Israel-Hamas conflict, which has been ongoing since October 7.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) described the attack as “horrifying” and shared on social media that the images from the site were “yet another testament” to the dire conditions in Gaza. Multiple videos showed fires raging through the camp and people desperately pulling bodies from the rubble.

By morning, the charred remains of tents and vehicles were all that was left of the refugee camp in Rafah known as the Kuwaiti Al-Salam Camp 1. An aid group, Al-Salam Association for Humanitarian and Charitable Works, reported that besides the dozens of deaths and injuries, over 120 tents and several facilities were destroyed.

Bilal al-Sapti, a 30-year-old construction worker from Rafah, recounted the devastation he witnessed. “The fire was very strong and was all over the camp,” he said. “There was darkness and no electricity.” Despite the destruction, his family miraculously survived.

“Many of the dead bodies were severely burned, had amputated limbs and were torn to pieces,” said Dr Marwan al-Hams, a healthcare worker.

The UN reported that one million civilians had fled Rafah since the start of Israel’s assault in early May, despite numerous international warnings against the escalating violence.

The conflict, the deadliest in Gaza’s history, began with a deadly attack by Hamas on southern Israel on October 7, resulting in 1,189 Israeli deaths and 252 hostages taken. Israel’s response has been relentless, with the Gaza Health Ministry reporting over 36,096 deaths, mostly civilians.

Islam Abu Isaeed stands in a ward in central Gaza’s Al-Aqsa hospital, praying over the bodies of people killed in Israel’s offensive.

He says he already lost his own children, his mother, his sister, her family and cousins – in total 36 relatives – during the fighting.

He has mourned them, and also taken on a much wider responsibility. Every week, sometimes every day, he comes out to the hospital to share in the grief of every family he can reach and pray for all the war’s victims.

“For six months, almost, we have been coming to the hospital and praying upon thousands of martyrs, martyr after martyr. We ask God that they be among the best martyrs,” Abu Isaeed said.

More than 33,100 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive, according to the health ministry in Gaza. The conflict was triggered by an Oct. 7 raid on Israel by Hamas militants who killed some 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

In the hospital in the central Gaza town of Deir Al-Balah, 60-year-old Abu Isaeed is often the one leading the prayers in the hugely significant collective act where Muslims seek forgiveness and solace for the deceased.

He has also started touring the wards to talk to the wounded.

“We go and try as much as we can to help the people to be patient, especially with reciting the Koran, as it has a very good effect on people’s patience” he told Reuters.

Bereaved relatives said they appreciated his quiet presence.

“His attitude is very beautiful. He calms the people down and he reminds the people of God Almighty. He shares people’s sorrows,” said one of them, Mohammed Al-Hour.

“For six months, I always saw him standing next to people and especially with me since I lost a lot from my family. He used to share my sorrows. He used to stand beside me and pray with us at funerals.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Jerusalem:

The bloodiest-ever war in Gaza that broke out exactly six months ago has taken an appalling human toll. At least 33,137 people have been killed in the besieged Palestinian territory in Israel’s campaign of retaliation for the Hamas attack of October 7, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.

The unprecedented Hamas raid on southern Israel killed 1,170 Israelis and foreigners, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

While Hamas has refused to say how many fighters it has lost, Israel claims to have killed more than 12,000.

Like many of the casualty figures from the war, this is impossible to confirm independently.

Israel losses

The Hamas attack on October 7 resulted in the death of 1,170 Israelis and foreigners, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

The Israeli army said Sunday that it has lost some 600 troops since the war began, 260 of them killed in Gaza itself since it went in on the ground on October 27.

Seventeen Israelis — soldiers, settlers and civilians — have been killed in violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Eight civilians and 10 Israeli soldiers have died in the north in Hezbollah rocket and missile attacks from Lebanon, with tens of thousands of people displaced.

Of the around 250 Israeli and foreign hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7, 129 remain in Gaza, of which the military says 34 are dead.

The bodies of 12 hostages have been returned to Israel.

The Israel military said 9,100 rockets have been fired into Israel from Gaza since October 7.

It has called up 300,000 reservists, 17 percent of them women.

Palestinian losses

Most of the 33,137 people who have been killed in Gaza in Israel’s retaliatory campaign have been women and children, according to the territory’s health ministry.

The Israeli military claims to have “eliminated” 12,000 enemy fighters there, including five brigade commanders and 20 battalion commanders.

At least another 459 Palestinians have been killed in violence in the occupied West Bank, according to the Ramallah-based health ministry.

The Israeli military claims to have “eliminated 420 terrorists” in its West Bank operations.

Israel says it has struck 32,000 targets in Gaza from the air since the war began.

Lebanon and Syria

Israeli fire since October has killed at least 359 people in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters, while at least 70 civilians have also died, according to an AFP tally.

The cross-border fire has displaced tens of thousands of people in southern Lebanon.

Fighters from other groups in Lebanon including Hamas and the Hezbollah-allied Amal movement are also included in the total.

At least 23 Hezbollah fighters have been killed in Israeli strikes in Syria, according to an AFP tally, with seven Iranian Revolutionary Guards killed in a strike on Damascus last week.

Israel says it has struck 1,400 targets from air in Lebanon and 3,300 with artillery, rockets and tanks.

Its military said 3,100 rockets have been fired over the border from Lebanon and 35 from Syria.

 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Palestinians walk by a residential building destroyed in an Israeli strike in Rafah, Gaza Strip, on March 9, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Israel struck one of the largest residential towers in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on March 9, residents said, stepping up pressure on the last area of the enclave it has not yet invaded and where over a million displaced Palestinians are sheltering.

The 12-floor building, located some 500m from the border with Egypt, was damaged in the strike. Dozens of families were made homeless though no casualties were reported, according to residents. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the incident.

One of the tower’s 300 residents told Reuters that Israel gave them a 30-minute warning to flee the building at night.

“People were startled, running down the stairs, some fell, it was chaos. People left their belongings and money,” said Mohammad Al-Nabrees, adding that among those who tripped down the stairs during the panicked evacuation was a friend’s pregnant wife.

A Rafah-based official with the Fatah party, which dominates the Palestinian Authority that has limited self-rule in the occupied West Bank, another Palestinian territory, said he feared that hitting the Rafah tower was a sign of an imminent Israeli invasion.

Five months into Israel’s unrelenting air and ground assault on Gaza, health authorities said nearly 31,000 Palestinians had been killed, over 72,500 were wounded and thousands were trapped under rubble.

The offensive has plunged the Palestinian territory, already reeling from a 17-year Israel-led blockade, into a humanitarian catastrophe. Much of it has been reduced to rubble and most of the 2.3 million population have been displaced, with the U.N. warning of disease and starvation.

Three Palestinian children died of dehydration and malnutrition at the northern Al Shifa Hospital overnight, said Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra. Mr. Qidra said this raised to 23 the number of Palestinians who had died of similar causes in nearly 10 days.

Also Read | The latest talks on Gaza have ended with no breakthrough, officials say

“This brutal war has ruptured any sense of a shared humanity,” said Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

She called for an end of hostilities to allow for meaningful aid distribution in Gaza, for Hamas to release all hostages without conditions and for Israel to treat Palestinians in its custody humanely and to permit them to contact their families.

The war was triggered by an October 7 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, where 1,200 people were killed and 253 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Negotiations on a ceasefire and the release of 134 hostages still in Gaza seemed to stall ahead of the hoped-for deadline, the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins on or around March 10.

A Hamas source told Reuters that the group’s delegation was “unlikely” to make another visit to Cairo over the weekend for talks. Hamas blamed the lack of progress on Israel, which has so far refused to give guarantees or commitments to end the war or pull out forces from the Gaza Strip.

In a speech marking Martyrs’ and Veterans’ Day in Egypt on March 9, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said the cost of rebuilding Gaza could exceed $90 billion.

In a statement summarizing its operations in Gaza over the past day, the Israeli military said it conducted arrests, located weapons and killed over 30 fighters in Khan Younis, including in the Hamad area, in central Gaza and in the area of Beit Hanoun in the north.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 82 people were killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip in the last day.

In Khan Younis, medics said at least 23 people were killed in military raids on homes and in Israeli shelling of a housing project in the Hamad area of the city. In the northern Gaza Strip, Israeli fire killed a Palestinian fisherman along the beach, medics said.

Helping hand: Omar Abu Kuwaik with his aunt, Maha Abu Kuwaik, at Shriners Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia on February 28, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Omar Abu Kuwaik is far from his home in Gaza. The four-year-old’s parents and sister were killed by an Israeli airstrike, when he lost part of his arm.

He’s one of the ‘lucky’ ones.

Through the efforts of family and strangers, Omar was brought out of Gaza and to the U.S., where he received treatment, including a prosthetic arm. He spent his days in a house run by a medical charity in New York City, accompanied by his aunt.

It was a small measure of grace in a sea of turmoil for him and his aunt, Maha Abu Kuwaik, as they looked to an uncertain future. The grief and despair for those still trapped in Gaza is never far away.

Ms. Abu Kuwaik is glad she could do this for her beloved brother’s son, whom she now considers her fourth child.

Difficult choice

But it was a terrible choice. Going with Omar meant leaving her husband and three teenage children behind in a sprawling tent camp in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah. With Israel carrying out strikes in areas where it told civilians to take shelter, including Rafah, Ms. Abu Kuwaik knows she might never see her family again.

“My kids love Omar so much,” she said. “They told me, ‘We are not children anymore. Go, let Omar get treated. It’s what is best for him. It’s his only chance.’” Omar was an outgoing boy, she said, and he is clever like his late father, an engineer. Now he is often withdrawn and breaks into tears easily. Ask Omar a question, and he covers his ears with his right hand and the stump of his left arm, declaring, “I don’t want to talk.”

“Kindergarten was nice,” he eventually admits, “and I was happy on the first day.” He started school just weeks before the war. But he does not want to go to kindergarten anymore. He is afraid to leave his aunt’s side.

Flying to New York may have given him a new dream, though. “When I grow up, I want to be pilot,” Omar said, “so I can bring people places.”

Two weeks into the war, Omar and Ms. Abu Kuwaik narrowly escaped death. The two families evacuated their Gaza City apartments just before Israeli airstrikes flattened the buildings.

With only the clothes on their backs, the families split up to stay with different relatives.

On December 6, two Israeli airstrikes slammed into Omar’s grandparents’ home in the Nuseirat refugee camp. The explosion peeled the skin from his face. His left arm could not be saved below the elbow. He had burns on his leg and torso. His parents, six-year-old sister, grandparents, two aunts and a cousin were killed.

‘Anywhere is better’

Omar was pinned beneath the rubble. Rescuers dug until they found his little body, still warm, bleeding but somehow alive. “Our view was, anywhere is better for him than being in Gaza,” said Adib Chouiki, vice president of Rahma Worldwide, a U.S.-based charity, who heard about Omar from the group’s team in Gaza.

Israel and Egypt tightly restrict movement of people out of Gaza, allowing just a few hundred to exit each day, mostly those with foreign citizenship. The World Health Organization says 2,293 patients — 1,498 wounded and 795 ill — have left Gaza for medical treatment alongside 1,625 companions. Yet roughly 8,000 patients remain on a waiting list to go abroad, according to the UN refugee agency.

Mr. Chouiki began reaching out to contacts in the Palestinian, Israeli and Egyptian governments. He got new passports for Omar and Ms. Abu Kuwaik, and Israeli security clearance for them to travel to Egypt. An ambulance brought them to the border, where an Egyptian ambulance whisked them across the Sinai desert.

Inside an Egyptian military hospital, Omar and his aunt waited for weeks until U.S. Customs and Border Protection gave them the green light to fly to New York on January 17.

At Shriners Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia, Omar had skin graft surgery for the burn on his leg. He was eager to get his new prosthetic arm on Wednesday, smiling mischievously as he reached out to touch it. “My arm is nice.”

Palestinians carry bags of flour they grabbed from an aid truck near an Israeli checkpoint, as Gaza residents face crisis levels of hunger, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, on February 19, 2024
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Health authorities in Gaza said on February 29 Israeli fire on people waiting for aid near Gaza City had killed more than 70 and wounded 280, with one hospital saying it had received 10 bodies and dozens of injured patients.

A spokesperson for Israel’s military said it had no knowledge of any shelling at that location.

Gaza Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra said the incident took place at al-Nabusi roundabout west of Gaza City in the northern part of the enclave.

Medical teams were unable to cope with the volume and severity of injuries from dozens of wounded people who arrived at al-Shifa hospital, Mr. al-Qidra said.

The head of Kamal Adwan hospital in Gaza City, Hussam Abu Safieyah, said it had received 10 dead bodies and dozens of wounded patients from the incident west of the city.

Also Read | Israel ready to halt war in Gaza during Ramadan if hostage deal is reached: Biden

“We don’t know how many there are in other hospitals,” Dr. Safieyah told Reuters by phone.

Hamas warned in a statement that the incident could lead to the failure of talks aimed at a deal on a truce and hostage release.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas sent fighters into Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and seizing 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Videos posted on social media showed trucks carrying many dead bodies. Reuters verified the location of one video to al-Nabulsi roundabout that showed several men who were motionless, as well as several wounded people.

Referring to the incident, an Israeli military spokesperson said: “There is no knowledge of Israeli shelling in the area.”

U.S. President Joe Biden with White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Israel must protect innocent Gaza residents by distinguishing between Hamas militants and civilians in the Palestinian territory, the White House warned on Sunday ahead of a call between President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel’s military has been urged to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza, where health officials in the Hamas-run territory say more than 8,000 people have already died in three weeks of air strikes that Israel has conducted in retaliation for Hamas’s unprecedented deadly attacks on October 7.

“There is a burden, as I said before and as the President has said, on Israel to take the necessary steps to distinguish between Hamas, who does not represent the Palestinian people, and innocent Palestinian civilians” in Gaza, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on CNN talk show “State of the Union.”

“We do believe that thousands of Palestinian civilians have been killed in this bombardment, and every single one of those deaths is a tragedy, just as those in Israel are,” Mr. Sullivan said.

“What we believe is that every hour, every day of this military operation, the IDF, the Israeli government, should be taking every possible means available to them to distinguish between Hamas — terrorists who are legitimate military targets — and civilians who are not.”

Follow Israel-Hamas war, Day 23 LIVE updates here

Mr. Sullivan, speaking on ABC’s “This Week” as he made a round of Sunday talk shows, said Hamas, “this brutal terrorist organization that conducted the attack, is hiding behind the civilian population — which puts an added burden on Israel to differentiate between the terrorists and innocent civilians.

“But it doesn’t lessen their responsibility under international humanitarian law and the laws of war to do all in their power to protect the civilian population.”

Mr. Sullivan said the White House has been communicating its position to Israeli officials at the highest levels, and will do so in a Biden-Netanyahu call.

“The president will speak again with the prime minister in a few hours’ time today, and he will continue to reiterate the United States’ position on this issue.”