NSC spokesman John Kirby discusses U.S. stance on Israeli military operations, Gaza crisis

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• Geoff Bennett:

  We're going to shift our focus back to the Israel-Hamas war and the U.S. response.

  For perspective from the Biden White House, we're joined by John Kirby, the coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council.

  Sir, welcome back to the "NewsHour."

• John Kirby, NSC Coordinator For Strategic Communications:

  Thanks for having me. Good to be with you.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Israel's military, as you well know, announced an expansion of ground operations in the Gaza Strip tonight. We have reports of tanks and troops on the ground. Gaza has been plunged into darkness.

  I know you're limited in terms of what you can say about Israel's military operation, but is the administration confident that Israel has considered the full range of repercussions of a stepped-up ground assault?

• John Kirby:

  Well, we're certainly confident that we have had the ability to share our perspectives in urban warfare and combat of this kind of sort.

  We have had more than ample opportunity to talk to them about our lessons learned. And they will have to speak for their decisions, obviously, in what they're doing or what they will do. But we're going to stay in close touch with them.

  And the other thing we're going to do is keep making sure that they have got the tools, the weapons, the capabilities to be successful in this fight against Hamas.

• Geoff Bennett:

  You have said the U.S. welcomes a pause in the war to allow more time to get humanitarian aid in and hostages out.

  There are, of course, American hostages being held by Hamas right now. What's the potential impact of this latest offensive on the effort to get those hostages released?

• John Kirby:

  I think that remains to be seen.

  I will — again, I will let the Israelis speak for their military operations, but what impact it might have on the ability to get hostages out, I think we're just — it's just too soon to know here as things begin to unfold.

  We still stand by our strong desire to see all those hostages released, and Hamas should do it immediately. And short of that, we have got to continue to work on negotiations to try to see that outcome. And we're doing that. We're doing that with our partners in Israel and throughout the region.

  We still think that that's a task worth pursuing. And, if that requires some sort of humanitarian pause or pauses, then we're obviously in support of that as well.

• Geoff Bennett:

  But does it undermine the chances of a humanitarian pause?

• John Kirby:

  Again, I think it really remains to be seen what happens on the ground there and what operations they conduct and how they conduct it. And, again, I just don't want to get ahead of where we are or where they are in their execution of their plans.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Let's talk about the situation in Gaza, because the U.N. secretary-general today said in a statement that the humanitarian system in Gaza is facing a total collapse. That's a direct quote.

  He said about 500 trucks were getting into Gaza before the Hamas attack on Israel. About 12 trucks per day have entered since these hostilities started. What kind of pressure is the U.S. applying to make sure that this process happens more quickly, which President Biden has said is a priority of his?

• John Kirby:

  As much pressure as we can bring to bear, we're doing that, as well as much engagement as we can do.

  We have got Ambassador Satterfield, our special envoy for humanitarian affairs, on the ground, working with regional partners, working with aid organizations to get that aid accelerated and to get it increased. We know — I think we have had 84 trucks total go in since the conflict started. That's a trickle. That's not enough.

  We have got to get more in. You have heard the president talk about that, and we're working it very aggressively.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Why not make U.S. military aid to Israel conditional, then, as some analysts have suggested, conditioned on pausing the bombing campaign to allow time to get hostages out and more humanitarian aid in, if that is a priority of the administration?

• John Kirby:

  Well, that question almost presumes that the Israelis don't care about the hostages either. And they do, because so many of them are Israelis.

  They want their citizens back. They understand that. They share our concerns about that. Again, I think it's just too soon to know or too soon to tell, given the — what they're doing on the ground right now, whether that's going to have an effect one way or the other on getting those hostages released.

  And as for the military aid, we have been nothing but concrete and nothing but clear. We're going to continue to make sure that Israel has the tools and the capabilities, the weapons that they need, the munitions they need to continue to prosecute this fight against Hamas terrorists who killed 14 — slaughtered 1,400 people all in basically a single day.

• Geoff Bennett:

  I also want to ask you about the U.S. retaliatory strikes carried out in Eastern Syria against facilities associated with Iranian-backed militant groups believed to be responsible for more than a dozen rocket and drone attacks that injured some 21 service members.

  How will the administration ensure that the strikes won't further inflame tensions with Iran or in the region, as the U.S. is really seeking to contain this Israel-Hamas war?

• John Kirby:

  We're going to do what we have to do to protect our troops and our facilities. We suffered nearly — well, I guess, actually, over the course of several days, 20-some-odd rocket attacks. And our response last night was direct right to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, because they're the ones supporting these militia groups who are firing these rockets.

  And we hit targets that we know will degrade their ability to continue to support these militia groups. So, the IRGC and Iran, they have a choice to make. We don't want to escalate. We don't want conflict with Iran. Secretary Austin made that clear in a statement last night.

  But we will protect our troops. We will protect our legitimate mission the ground in Iraq and Syria to go after ISIS. And we're going to continue to make sure we have the capabilities to do both.

• Geoff Bennett:

  The intention of those strikes, was it to kill Iranian-backed militants or was it to destroy their facilities?

• John Kirby:

  Two purposes, one, to go after some of their ammo and weapons storage, the kinds of things, the depots, those two places that they were using to supply these militia groups, so degrading their military capability in Syria, and, two, to deter any future rocket attacks against our troops and facilities, to make a — send a strong signal, a clear signal to the IRGC that enough is enough.

  It's got to stop.

• Geoff Bennett:

  National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby, thank you, Admiral. Appreciate it.

• John Kirby:

  Yes, sir. Good to be with you.