Civilian death toll in Gaza ‘too high,’ says US Senator Chris Murphy

A US senator said Wednesday that it is “vital” for Israel to carry out a more targeted offensive in the Gaza Strip to limit civilian casualties.

“I think that the civilian death toll has been too high, and a more surgical approach would be important and vital,” Chris Murphy, a Democratic member of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told AFP in an interview.

“I am concerned that if Israel’s strategy and end goal is to defeat Hamas, then this pace of civilian casualties, which certainly comes with a moral cost, also comes with a strategic cost.”

Israel is on a mission to destroy Hamas after militants of the Islamist Palestinian group attacked Israel one month ago, killing about 1,400 people, mainly civilians, according to Israeli authorities.

The military’s relentless bombing and ground invasion of Gaza in response has killed more than 10,600 people, also mostly civilians, the Hamas-run Palestinian territory’s health ministry has said.

While Israel has every right to defend itself, avoiding unnecessary casualties is crucial, Murphy said. He said Hamas is also to blame because the group is “burying itself under civilian institutions, hiding itself in hospitals, schools, and mosques.”

Nevertheless, a reckless response that does not limit civilian deaths may only end up “creating lots of terrorists” after the war.

“What we’ve learned is that when you are too permissive about civilian deaths, you end up providing bulletin board material to terrorist recruiters and end up killing lots of terrorists, but you end up creating lots of terrorists as well,” Murphy said.

Along with 20 of his Senate peers, Murphy sent a letter Wednesday to US President Joe Biden, a fellow Democrat, urging that Israel “abide by the laws of war,” including protection of civilians, and to “learn from the mistakes the United States made in our fight against terrorism” two decades ago.