JERUSALEM: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday said Hamas fighters took “evil to another level” from Islamic State jihadists, as he pledged “iron-clad” backing for Israel in its war against the Palestinian Islamists.
“In encountering ISIS I felt as if we were staring evil in the eye—it was truly evil,” said Austin after talks with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant.
“And what we’ve seen from Hamas, it takes that evil to another level.”
Austin underlined that there is “never any justification for terrorism and that’s especially true after this rampage by Hamas”.
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“The United States has Israel’s back and that is not negotiable and it never will be,” vowed Austin.
The defence secretary however cautioned that the fightback against Hamas must take place within boundaries.
“Democracies like ours are stronger and more secure when we uphold the laws of war,” he said, expressing confidence in the “well-led” Israeli forces to “be disciplined” in their operations to uproot Hamas.
Israel supports setting up “safe areas” for civilians in the Gaza Strip ahead of an expected major offensive, a senior US official said on Friday.
The two sides discussed “the need to establish some safe areas where civilians could relocate, be safe from Israel’s legitimate security operations”, said the official, a day after talks in Tel Aviv.
Israel’s military admitted Friday it would take time for Palestinians to follow its orders to evacuate north Gaza, but did not confirm a UN report that it had set a 24-hour deadline.
“We are trying to provide the time and we are doing a lot of effort, and we understand it won’t take 24 hours,” army spokesman Daniel Hagari told journalists.
“I will not say (if) it’s an accurate time,” he added, when asked to confirm the army had informed UN officials Gazans had 24 hours to flee.
The United Nations warned the displacement of 1.1 million residents from northern Gaza could lead to “devastating humanitarian consequences”, while the World Health Organization said it is impossible to evacuate vulnerable patients.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Friday warned against a “second Nakba” catastrophe facing Palestinians after the Israeli army ordered more than one million people to evacuate north Gaza.
Abbas “completely rejects the displacement of our people from the Gaza Strip, because it will be tantamount to a second Nakba for our people,” he said, according to a statement published by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.
The Nakba, or “catastrophe”, refers to some 760,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes during the 1948 war that coincided with Israel’s creation.
His remarks came after the Israeli military dropped leaflets on the blockaded Gaza Strip warning people to flee from the north, an area home to some 1.1 million people.
Abbas’s Palestinian Authority is seated in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, and is split from the militant group Hamas which rules Gaza.
The Israeli army’s call for more than one million people to evacuate north Gaza is a “tall order,” the White House said Friday, adding that the United States understands Israel is trying to give civilians “fair warning.”
“We understand what they’re trying to do. They’re trying to move civilians out of harm’s way,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told CNN.
“Now it’s a tall order. It’s a million people, and it’s very urban, dense environment. It’s already a combat zone. So I don’t think anybody’s underestimating the challenge here of effecting that evacuation.”
At least 258 Israeli soldiers have been killed in fighting against Palestinian militants.
“The bereaved families of 258 fallen soldiers have been formally notified,” army spokesman Daniel Hagari told a press briefing, revising up an earlier toll of 169 slain troops.
More than 1,300 people have been killed, raising an earlier toll by 100.
Over 3,200 other people had been wounded, the Israeli army said on X, formerly Twitter, while families of 120 hostages have been contacted since attack at dawn on Saturday that spiralled into all-out war.
At least nine Palestinians were killed Friday by Israeli fire across the occupied West Bank during rallies in solidarity with war-battered Gaza, the Palestinian health ministry said.
Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement on Friday said it would be “fully prepared” to join its ally Hamas in the war against Israel when the time is right.
Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem spoke as Hamas and Israel traded heavy fire for a seventh day, after hundreds of Hamas gunmen stormed across the border from Gaza into Israel on Saturday and killed more than 1,300 people.
At least 1,799 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since a massive Hamas attack on Israel at the weekend, the health ministry in the blockaded Palestinian enclave said Friday.
The ministry reported in a statement the “martyrdom of 1,799 citizens including 583 children and 351 women”, adding that more than 7,000 people have been wounded.
“We, as Hezbollah, are contributing to the confrontation and will (continue) to contribute to it within our vision and plan,” Qassem told a pro-Palestinian rally in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
“We are fully prepared, and when the time comes for action, we will take it,” he said.
The official, whose remarks coincided with a visit by Iran’s foreign minister to Beirut, rebuffed calls for Hezbollah to stay out of the war.
An outreach by “major countries, Arab countries, and envoys from the United Nations, directly and indirectly, asking us not to interfere in the battle, will not affect us”, he said, adding that “Hezbollah knows its duties”.
Israel has traded fire with Hezbollah and allied Palestinian factions in Lebanon in recent days, although the tit-for-tat attacks have remained limited.
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