Pentagon Pressed On Giving Israel 'Precise' Weapons That Will Cause Less 'Collateral Damage'

5 months ago

Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh was asked if the United States will provide Israel with precise weapons in order to limit collateral damage in Gaza.

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Transcript

00:00 - And then just a follow-up on the last Sunday strike

00:03 at the displacement camp, or the fire that broke out there.

00:07 Since then, we've had other strikes

00:09 where additional civilians have been killed,

00:11 all in this one area where there had never been

00:14 evacuation orders given.

00:16 Given that the Israelis are still striking Hamas leaders,

00:19 are there other weapons that the U.S. can provide

00:22 that are more precise, smaller,

00:24 that would have less collateral damage?

00:28 - Well, thanks, Tara, for the question.

00:30 We continue to provide Israel security assistance

00:33 in what they need to be successful in defeating Hamas.

00:36 That ranges, of course, from different types

00:40 of precision-guided munitions to other capabilities.

00:45 We have paused that one shipment

00:47 of the larger 2,000-pound bombs,

00:50 but I don't have more specifics.

00:51 We are providing them what they need

00:53 in order to be effective in their fight against Hamas.

00:56 - But it seems even the 250-pound bombs

00:58 are doing significant collateral damage

01:00 and killing civilians, so is that even too big a bomb

01:03 right now for this part of their fight?

01:05 - Well, we've been very clear with the Israelis,

01:07 and in fact, just yesterday, as you probably saw,

01:09 Secretary Austin did have a call

01:11 with his counterpart, Minister Gallant,

01:14 to talk about exactly what happened over the weekend,

01:17 to talk about how there needs to be more work done

01:21 in order to preserve and to protect civilians

01:26 that are on the ground.

01:27 And so we continue to have those conversations.

01:30 We are, of course, doing that publicly and privately,

01:35 but we believe that we are also giving Israel

01:38 what they need to be successful

01:40 in their fight against Hamas.

Pentagon Pressed On Giving Israel 'Precise' Weapons That Will Cause Less 'Collateral Damage'

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