US says 'horrible to see' images of Gaza's children being removed from rubble

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - It is "horrible to see" Palestinian children being pulled out of the rubble in the besieged Gaza Strip, the White House said Tuesday amid ongoing Israeli airstrikes across the coastal enclave and a broadening ground invasion.

"It is sad to see, it's horrible to see the images of young kids being pulled out of rubble, and so many of them not making it," National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.

"Hamas is putting those children and their families in greater danger by not letting them go, by encouraging them to stay, by sheltering in their homes, by building tunnels under their hospitals, and by holding children hostages," he said, referring to a portion of the more than 200 people Hamas took hostage one month ago.

Asked if the US placed any restriction on how weapons it provides Israel can be used in Gaza, Kirby said: "We provide security assistance to any foreign nation, including Israel, with the full expectation that those weapons will be used in keeping with the law of armed conflict."

"That's no different here for Israel than it is for anybody else," he said. "We're going to keep urging them to be as discriminant and careful and cautious as possible."

Israel launched air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group, Hamas, on Oct. 7 that killed more than 1,400 people in Israel. At least 10,328 Palestinians, including 4,237 children and 2,719 women, have been killed in Gaza.

Amid the soaring death toll, basic necessities are increasingly running out in Gaza after Israel imposed a "full siege" on the enclave that has ground humanitarian aid deliveries to a near halt.

In the month since the war began, just over 500 trucks -- what would have constituted a day's worth of deliveries prior to the war-- have arrived in Gaza.