Today’s news / U.S. warns Israel, blames Hamas
In perhaps his harshest statements yet on Israel's warfare, U.S. Defence Secretary State Lloyd Austin says fighting in urban and densely populated areas places strict demands on democracies trying to live up to international laws and norms in war. Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Ritzau Scanpix

U.S. warns Israel, blames Hamas

U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin has warned Israel that it risks strategic defeat if it does not do more to protect Palestinian civilians in its war against Hamas. “If Israel doesn’t do everything it can to protect civilians, you drive many Palestinians into the arms of the enemy,” Politico reported Austin, who attended a defence conference in California over the weekend, as saying. Austin says a tactical victory can turn into a strategic defeat, referring to the lessons learnt by United States and other Western countries in Afghanistan and Iraq.
     In perhaps his harshest statements yet on Israel’s warfare, the US Defence Secretary said fighting in urban and densely populated areas places strict demands on democracies trying to live up to international laws and norms in war. “The lesson here is not that you can win in urban warfare by protecting civilians. The lesson is that you can only win if you protect civilians,” Austin said, calling it “a moral responsibility and a strategic imperative” to protect civilians. He also made it clear that the United States remains “Israel’s closest friend in the world.”
     On Friday Secretary of State Antony Blinken blamed Hamas for the failure of the temporary cease-fire. “(It is) important to understand why the pause came to an end: It came to an end because of Hamas. Hamas reneged on commitments it made,” Blinken said. /ritzau/Reuters/Politico/