At Hearing, Warren Slams Israel’s Disregard for Aid Workers and Civilians, Urges DoD Sec. Austin to Strengthen Civilian Harm Prevention Efforts
Warren: “U.S. policy explicitly states that we expect our allies to meet the same standards that we do to prevent and mitigate civilian harm. Israel is failing to do that in its bombing campaign. ”
Washington, D.C. —Today, at a hearing of the Committee on Armed Services, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) questioned Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin, on Israel’s disregard for civilians and aid workers and the need for the Department of Defense to continue to strengthen its civilian harm mitigation and prevention efforts.
At the hearing, Senator Warren questioned Secretary Austin on whether he believed an Israeli ground invasion of Rafah — the last refuge of Palestinians with over 1.4 million civilians — would enhance Israeli or U.S. security. Senator Warren also highlighted the scale of suffering in Gaza, noting that Israeli strikes have killed over 30,000 Palestinians to date.
When asked if the U.S. military would systemically target civilians, Secretary Austin said, “Absolutely not, just the opposite…we routinely go out of our way to make sure that we do everything we can to minimize civilian casualties.” Secretary Austin confirmed that it is the policy of the U.S. military to take “extraordinary efforts” to minimize civilian casualties. Senator Warren emphasized that the United States expects its allies and recipients of foreign aid to do the same — which Israel has failed to do in its war against Hamas.
Senator Warren concluded by urging DoD to push Israel and U.S. allies to do more to protect civilians, and called for cuts to U.S. aid for those who fail to do so.
Transcript: Hearing to receive testimony on the Department of Defense budget request for Fiscal Year 2025 and the Future Years Defense Program
U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services
Tuesday, April 9, 2024
Senator Warren: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Secretary Austin, under your leadership the United States has made preventing civilian harm a top priority. You have repeatedly said that it is both a “moral” and a “strategic” imperative.
I have pressed the DoD to take this issue more seriously for years. And in 2022, DoD issued its Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response Action Plan, which directs the Department to systematically take steps to prevent, mitigate and respond to civilian harm. The policy makes clear that we expect our military partners to prioritize civilian harm prevention as well.
Since October, Israeli strikes have killed over 30,000 Palestinians; the majority of them are women and children. Rafah has become the latest refuge of Palestinian civilians, and is now home to more than 1.4 million people.
Given the number of civilians there, the Biden administration has repeatedly urged Israel not to attack Rafah saying that doing so would be, quote, “a disaster.”
Secretary Austin, do you think an attack on Rafah that kills another 30,000 civilians would enhance either U.S. or Israeli security?
Secretary Austin: Thank you, Senator.
There's no question that there have been far too many civilian casualties in his conflict — far too many. And what we continue to emphasize to the Israelis is that, you know, civilians in that battlespace need to be not only evacuated, but properly taken care of once they're evacuated out of that battlespace before anything is contemplated.
And, you know, this is a point that I have stressed with my counterpart on a number of occasions, just recently as yesterday. And, again, it cannot be going forward what we've seen in the past in terms of the type of activities that we've seen in Gaza City and in Khan Yunis.
Far too many civilians have been killed as a result of combat operations and, and they need to get civilians out of that battle space around Rafah.
Senator Warren: All right.
So, the United States has an important responsibility here because we are the ones giving the Israeli Defense Forces the bombs that they are using to destroy homes and hospitals and refugee camps. At the president's direction, through his February national security memorandum, the Department of Defense and the State Department are currently assessing whether Israel is in compliance with international humanitarian law.
There are serious concerns that Israel is not complying with international humanitarian law. According to recent investigations by plus 972 and the Guardian, Israeli intelligence officials allege that the IDF often deliberately prefers to wait until its targets are at home among their children and neighbors to launch a strike.
Secretary Austin, I understand that civilians are often at risk in a time of war. But, would the United States systematically choose to execute on military strikes that are more likely to kill civilians, including children?
Secretary Austin: Absolutely not, just the opposite.
You know, we routinely go out of our way to make sure that we do everything we can to minimize civilian casualties. Even with that — even with extraordinary efforts — there will be collateral damage and casualties from time-to-time, but it's something that we really work hard to prevent.
Senator Warren: Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
U.S. policy explicitly states that we expect our allies to meet the same standards that we do to prevent and mitigate civilian harm. Israel is failing to do that in its bombing campaign.
Under your leadership, DoD has made significant progress in putting policies in place to protect civilians. But, we also need to push our closest allies to meet the same standard and to cut off U.S. support if they refuse to do so.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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