Israel-Hamas Conflict: US Says There Is “No Evidence Of Israel Committing Genocide In Gaza”

Israel-Hamas War: The claims that Israel is carrying out “genocide” in the Gaza Strip while waging a military campaign against the militant Palestinian organization Hamas have been sharply contested by the United States.

Leading figures in the Biden Administration denied the charges leveled against Israel, claiming that there was insufficient “proof” to indicate that the Jewish state was conducting a genocide in the war-torn north of Gaza and that Hamas had not been held responsible by the international community.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke before the US Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, addressing President Joe Biden’s most recent budget request. “We don’t have any evidence of genocide being carried out,” Austin said.

“Hamas needs to answer for his actions.”
The international community was criticized by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken for its failure to hold Hamas responsible. Both officials, however, emphasized that Israel has to ensure sustained improvements to the humanitarian situation in the beleaguered enclave.

The Biden Administration reacted a day after Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren posted a video on social media in which she said that there was “ample evidence” for the International Court of Justice to declare Israel guilty of genocide.

According to The Times of Israel, during his testimony, Austin called the atrocities carried out by Hamas on October 7 a “war crime” but held back from referring to them as a genocide since far-left demonstrators were waving placards and screamed at him to stop arming Israel.

While numerous senators voiced their indignation at the killings of civilians and demanded that more needed to be done by the administration to put pressure on Israel to preserve the Gaza people, demonstrators held their red-stained hands in the air and cried, “Stop the genocide.”

Israel-Gaza conflict
In the last six months, almost 33,000 Palestinians have died in the Gaza Strip. Israel began a full-scale military strike against Hamas in response to the terrorist organization’s October 7 assault, which claimed more than 1,400 lives.

In addition to over 1,000 Hamas terrorists on October 7, data released by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed it had killed 13,000 Hamas operatives and members of other militant organizations in its operations within the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and Lebanon.

The IDF claims to have killed over 20 battalion leaders and five commanders of Hamas brigades, as well as those of a comparable level.

According to the IDF, since October 7, more than 3,700 Palestinians have been detained in the West Bank; more than 1,600 of them are reportedly Hamas members.