WASHINGTON: Israel鈥檚 call for more than 1 million civilians in northern Gaza to move within 24 hours is going to be a 鈥渢all order,鈥� although the United States was not second-guessing the decision, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on Friday.
鈥淭hat is a lot of people to move in a very short period of time,鈥� Kirby said in an interview on MSNBC.
鈥淲e understand what they鈥檙e trying to do and why they鈥檙e trying to do this 鈥� to try to isolate the civilian population from Hamas, which is their real target,鈥� he added.
Kirby said US officials are working with Israel and Egypt on getting safe passage for civilians living in Gaza, home to 2.3 million people in one of the most crowded places on Earth.
鈥淥bviously, we don鈥檛 want to see any civilians hurt,鈥� he said later on CNN. 鈥淲e do support safe passage out of Gaza, and certainly that includes the ability for people to move safely inside Gaza.
鈥淭hese Palestinian people, they鈥檙e victims, too. They didn鈥檛 ask for this. They didn鈥檛 invite Hamas in and say, you know, 鈥楪o hit Israel.鈥欌€�
Kirby said he could not confirm Hamas鈥� assertion that 13 captives were killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza in the last 24 hours.