White House: IDF scaleback of Gaza op will allow for more aid and for residents to return to homes

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby says that the IDF shift to low-intensity fighting in northern Gaza and the imminent shift to low-intensity fighting in southern Gaza as announced yesterday by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant will allow for an increase of humanitarian aid as well as the return of civilians to their homes.

With the scale-back in fighting, “We are preparing to increase the humanitarian assistance… as well as to help set the conditions for the population to return to north Gaza where the UN hopes to conduct assessment missions over the coming week,” Kirby says.

Israel has approved the UN assessment but has rejected efforts to allow evacuated Gazans to return to their homes in the northern Strip, saying that the fighting is still ongoing there and that it will not allow the step unless there is an advancement in efforts to release the hostages.

“We’re making these preparations because we believe that these lower intensity operations inside Gaza should be able to not only allow for a reduction in civilian casualties, but a more reliable distribution of aid over the coming period,” Kirby says during a press briefing, adding that Biden’s Gaza humanitarian envoy David Satterfield and US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew were meeting today with senior Israeli political and military leaders to discuss the issue further.

Kirby says, “the images coming out of Gaza continue to be heartbreaking and painful” and that the US is continuing its efforts to limit civilian casualties while stressing that Hamas hinders these efforts by operating among civilians.