President Joe Biden affirmed on Wednesday the Israeli military's claims that Hamas has been using hospitals to insulate themselves among civilian populations.
Israeli forces engaged in a fight with Hamas militants around the Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza and proceeded to raid the facility on Wednesday. The Israeli military has since released footage of what it argues is evidence that proves Hamas uses the hospital as a command base.
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"Here's the situation: You have a circumstance where the first war crime is being committed by Hamas by having their headquarters, their military, hidden under a hospital. And that's a fact. That's what's happened," Biden said in a Wednesday press conference following his meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. "We've discussed the need for them to be incredibly careful."
The Israel Defense Forces published videos from Shifa Hospital showing what it said were weapons it found in the hospital.
The situation at the hospital represents a common and complex equation for Israeli forces as they are required by the laws of war to do everything in their power to prevent civilian casualties, even if Hamas chooses to endanger them by embedding themselves within large civilian populations.
Wednesday's raid at Shifa Hospital comes as medical facilities in Gaza have been overwhelmed and received insufficient amounts of international aid. The raid took place as the hospital was filled with patients, medical professionals, and thousands of other people who traveled to the hospital to shelter from the war, according to CNN.
The president and his administration have repeatedly urged Israel to do more to prevent civilian casualties, though the president specified on Wednesday that the raid was targeted and not indiscriminate, which had been a source of contention between the two allies.
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"[The Israelis have] given the doctors and, I'm told, the doctors and nurses and the personnel the opportunity to get out of harm's way. So this is a different story than what I believe was occurring before, indiscriminate bombing," he said.
Despite Biden and his administration's public insistence that Israel had to do more to prevent civilian casualties, they have remained broadly steadfast in their support for Israel's right to defend itself. U.S. officials, the president included, have stated their support for Israel's overarching goal of removing Hamas from power in Gaza and eliminating its military capabilities, even as thousands of civilians have been killed in the military campaign designed to achieve those objectives.