US says Israel must distinguish between Hamas and Gaza civilians

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

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have been urged to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza, where health officials in the Hamas-run territory say more than 8,000 people -- half of them children -- have already died in three weeks of air strikes conducted in retaliation for the deadly Hamas attacks into Israel on October 7.

"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," US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on CNN talk show "State of the Union."

Sullivan said Biden would deliver the message to Netanyahu.

"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," he said.

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

Speaking on ABC's "This Week" as he made a round of Sunday talk shows, Sullivan said Hamas, a "brutal terrorist organization," is "hiding behind the civilian population."

Hamas has been using civilians as "human shields" and putting rockets and other "terrorist infrastructure" in civilian areas, he said.

"But it doesn't lessen their (Israel's) responsibility under international humanitarian law and the laws of war to do all in their power to protect the civilian population."

The national security advisor also said that US officials are working to help secure the release of more than 220 Israeli hostages being held in Gaza by Hamas, as well as to help the hundreds of Palestinian Americans stuck in Gaza.

"Many of them are still there, still waiting to get out, and we are working actively to try to make that happen," Sullivan told CBS show "Face the Nation."

But he said that while neighboring Egypt and Israel are prepared to let Americans and other foreign nationals leave Gaza, "Hamas is preventing their departure."