WASHINGTON — Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Herzog said Wednesday he was puzzled by calls from the White House for the Jewish state to “pause” its invasion of Gaza to allow for the release of Hamas hostages — a demand echoed by President Biden Wednesday night.
“I don’t know what temporary pauses or humanitarian pauses means,” Herzog told NewsNation’s “The Hill”. “People talk about a ceasefire. It is not going to happen because we are not going to stop our war efforts to destroy the Hamas war machine.”
“We are in the middle of a war, and we need to finish that war and make sure Hamas cannot threaten us again,” Herzog added. “While we are doing it again, we have an obligation to provide humanitarian solutions on the ground. We are doing it … I don’t exactly know what a pause means.”
Hours later, Biden told a heckler at a Minnesota campaign reception that he supported a break in the fighting even as the Israeli military encircles Gaza City in a campaign to oust jihadists from power in the Gaza Strip.
“I think we need a pause. A pause means give time to get the prisoners out,” Biden told the heckler, without specifying the duration of his desired pause.
The White House’s primary spokesman on foreign affairs, John Kirby of the National Security Council, has repeatedly rejected calls for a ceasefire, saying it would benefit Hamas after the group murdered more than 1,400 people, including at least 33 Americans in an Oct. 7 surprise attack on communities across southern Israel.
Kirby repeated those statements to reporters en route to Minnesota Wednesday, saying: “A ceasefire right now — a general, broad ceasefire right now is not the — is not the right answer.”
“We continue to support the idea of temporary pauses in the fighting so that aid can get in, people can get out, we can get our hostages out. We absolutely think that that’s an idea worth pursuing,” he added.
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“Now, there are many factors and many players in being able to put pauses in place, and we’re working at that very, very hard.”
Earlier Wednesday, Biden announced that Hamas had agreed to let some of about 400 American citizens trapped in Gaza depart through Egypt.
The terrorist group is also holding up to 10 US hostages taken from Israel, after releasing two American captives on Oct. 20.