US criticises Israel for inadequate response to Gaza concerns

The United States has accused Israel of ‘not doing enough’ to answer international concerns over indiscriminate strikes on Gaza.

Speaking at a press briefing in Washington DC, State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller said that the US is conducting “own reviews” based on information they are gathering, independent of the government of Israel.”

“They are not doing enough to get us the answers that we have requested. And you saw the secretary raised this in a letter that he sent a little over two weeks ago and said that they need to do more to set up a channel, so when we have answers to these types of questions that they provide us with those answers,” Miller told reporters.

“They also need to provide the public with answers to these questions,” he added.

In the same briefing, Miller also emphasised the US’s position on Lebanon, saying that Israel’s campaign “should not, cannot, must not look like the campaign that they have conducted in Gaza and that we do not want to see that type of widespread damage”.

Meanwhile, Israel’s military chief has said the Israel Defence Force needs to be larger, as the war expands to different fronts.

While visiting the Israeli army’s northern division, which is operating in ground raids in Lebanon, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said that expanding Israel’s forces would require ultra-Orthodox Jewish men to enlist in the army.

Under longstanding arrangements, ultra-Orthodox men have been exempt from the draft, which is compulsory for most Jewish men and women, who serve two to three years as well as reserve duty until around age 40.

It comes as Hezbollah’s newly named leader Naim Kassem has said in his first public comments that the militant group will keep fighting in its ongoing war with Israel until it is offered cease-fire terms it deems acceptable.

“If the Israelis decide to stop the aggression, we say that we accept, but according to the conditions that we see as suitable,” Kassem said, speaking from an undisclosed location in a pre-recorded televised address. “We will not beg for a cease fire as we will continue (fighting)… no matter how long it takes.”

Kassem, a cleric and founding member of the Lebanese militant group, was named Tuesday to replace former longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb in late September. Kassem had served as Nasrallah’s deputy for more than three decades.

Kassem’s comments as as international mediators have launched a new push for negotiated cease-fires in Lebanon and Gaza with Senior White House officials scheduled to visit Israel on Thursday.