US defence secretary’s comments suggest Israel is nowhere close to destroying Hamas

The US defence secretary was asked in Congress today how many women and children had been killed by Israel since 7 October.

“It is over 25,000,” he said.

The Pentagon later added: “We cannot independently verify these Gaza casualty figures…” and that Lloyd Austin was referring to the total number killed.

But the fact that the American defence secretary is now openly quoting Gazan health ministry numbers is hugely significant.

Middle East latest: US says ‘too many Palestinians died today’

Intentionally or otherwise it adds pressure on Israel as ceasefire talks drag on and are repeatedly stalled.

Throughout this conflict, doubt has been cast by the American administration over the accuracy of the figures emerging from Gaza.

In alignment with the Israelis and many Western governments, they have said it is wrong to trust the Gaza health ministry figures because it is run by Hamas.

At points, there have been moments of deviation from that assertion, with different officials from different Western countries at times saying the numbers could be accurate.

But the overriding implication had been that the numbers were wrong and inflated.

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The latest Hamas numbers, from their health ministry, say about 30,000 people have died.

Hamas does not break down the deaths between combatants and non-combatants.

The latest health ministry figures, from 28 February, say 12,300 children have been killed and 8,400 women, which comes to 20,700. These are figures American politicians are now comfortable citing.

Before this war, Hamas is believed to have had about 30,000 fighters.

So all this tells us that Israel is nowhere near close to its stated aim of totally destroying Hamas.

And it tells us that the Gaza health ministry numbers, undermined for months by the US administration, are now being used by that enabler of this conflict in an acknowledgement of the scale of the death toll.

There is some debate over whether America has lost leverage over Israel or whether it’s just not willing to pull the leavers.

The Israeli government is defying America. That much is clear because Biden officials have repeatedly said they are calling for Israeli restraint.

Such restraint is not evident. Look at the numbers. Look at the warnings of famine.

I asked the state department spokesperson how all of this can be seen as anything other than a complete disaster and a total failure of American leadership.

Matt Miller avoided the question and repeated the US government line that the number of civilians killed is “far too high”.

History shows America does have influence. In the last Gaza war in 2021 which I reported on from Israel and Gaza, it took one phone call from President Biden to stop it.

“Look man, we’re out of runway here… it’s over,” Joe Biden is quoted as telling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

That war stopped a few days later. Of course, the enduring peace never came because the international community then lost interest again.

As I argued days after 7 October; it is a conflict that the world has ignored or tolerated for far too long.