The United States And Israel Will Discuss Civilian Casualties In Gaza Early Next Month

JAKARTA - Senior US and Israeli officials will hold talks in early December in the first meeting of a new channel requested by Washington to voice concerns over civilian casualties in Israel's war in Gaza, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said on Tuesday.

A letter dated October 13 from President Joe Biden's administration official to the Israeli government said the previous channel was not functioning and asked new channels to meet virtually before the end of the month.

Miller told a news conference the first meeting had been scheduled to gather information about incidents involving US use of weapons provided by Israel which was a "cause of concern or cause of question."

However, Miller declined to say where the meeting would take place.

"We are taking all the information we have gathered and put it into our process, both our policy-making process and the assessment we have to make about potential international humanitarian law violations, and we will continue to do so," Miller said. November 20.

Miller declined to say whether the new channel would accelerate the US government's assessment of potential international law violations by Israel, and was not committed to any assessments to be completed before President Biden leaves office on January 20.

"Our work has been running as quickly as possible, but the assessment is difficult to do," he said.

President Biden has offered strong support to Israel since Hamas-led gunmen attacked Israel in October 2023, but have voiced concerns over Israel's behavior in its attacks on Gaza and its impact on Palestinian civilians.

US officials have identified nearly 500 potential incidents that have endangered civilians in the Palestinian enclave since the war began on October 7, 2023, a source said last month.

No action was taken over any incidents, the source said, under the State Department's mechanism meant to assess incidents in which civilians were killed or injured with weapons provided by the US and recommend action to avoid harm in the future.

The latest conflict in Gaza broke out on October 7, 2023, after a militant group led by Hamas attacked the southern region of Lebanon, leaving about 1,200 people dead and 250 others held hostage, according to Israeli calculations. Israel responded to that with airstrikes, blockades and ground operations in Gaza.

Yesterday, Gaza's health authorities confirmed that the death toll from Palestine since the conflict broke out had reached 43,972 people and 100,008 injured, the majority being women and children, quoted from WAFA.