Austin's Gaza comments indicate 'Israel' far from 'eliminating' Hamas
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According to Sky News correspondent Mark Stone, Austin's mentioning of such numbers may suggest that "Israel" is nowhere near its goal of "eradicating Hamas".
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US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin testifies during a House Committee on Armed Services hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on February 29, 2024. (AFP)
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was asked on Friday about the number of women and children killed by "Israel" since the war on Gaza began.
Although he responded with "over 25,000", the Pentagon afterward rushed to state that this number could not be "independently verified", claiming that Austin was referring to a total casualty number.
However, according to Sky News correspondent Mark Stone, Austin's mentioning of such numbers that align with those provided by the Gaza Health Ministry is of great significance since it adds more pressure on the Israeli occupation and removes any doubt the current administration tried to cast on the numbers coming out of Gaza.
The current administration, like "Israel" and many Western nations, has stated that trusting the Gaza Health Ministry data is a mistake since the Palestinian Resistance, Hamas, administers it.
It is important to note that due to the devastation caused by the Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip, some victims remain trapped under rubble and on the roads, with the Israeli occupation hindering the arrival of ambulances and civil defense teams to provide urgent assistance, which, in fact, reflects that the toll might be much higher than announced.
The alarming escalation brings the total toll of the Israeli aggression to a staggering 30,228 martyrs and 71,377 injuries since October 7 of last year, with the majority being women and children.
According to Stone, Hamas was believed to have nearly 30,000 fighters before the war began, meaning that the occupation is "nowhere near close" to achieving its goal of destroying the Palestinian Resistance group.
More importantly, it indicates that the data from the Health Ministry, which have been undercut for months by the US administration, are now being used by the war's enabler to admit the enormity of the cruelty of the Israeli occupation.
There is also a dispute about whether America has lost power over "Israel" or is just unwilling to pull in the reins.
Although Biden officials have repeatedly said that they are advocating for Israeli restraint, such restraint is nowhere to be seen.
When Stone asked US State Department spokesperson Matt Miller how the current situation in Palestine is anything short of total American leadership failure, Miller reiterated that the number of deaths was "far too high," evading the question.
Stone recalls that in 2021, during the battle of Seif Al-Quds, it took one phone call from US President Joe Biden to end the war, reportedly telling Benjamin Netanyahu, "Look man, we're out of runway here… it's over."
Stone writes that the situation in Palestine has been "ignored or tolerated for far too long."
Pro-Palestine protestors say US SecDef an 'accomplice to genocide'
Pro-Palestinian protesters confronted US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Thursday as he left a House Armed Services Committee hearing, according to the co-founder of the peace group CODEPINK, Medea Benjamin.
Benjamin reported the incident on X, referring to Austin as the "secretary of genocide."
In the video Benjamin published, protesters can be heard calling for a ceasefire and referring to Austin as an "accomplice to genocide."
NOW: We just confronted @SecDef Lloyd Austin as he exited today's House hearing.
— Medea Benjamin (@medeabenjamin) February 29, 2024
He is the SECRETARY OF GENOCIDE! The blood is on his hands! pic.twitter.com/hcQOCPIV7y
'Israel' losing on several fronts: NYT
In a report by The New York Times, American Columnist Thomas Friedman highlighted that "Israel" is losing on three fronts. He suggests that the occupation entity is losing the global narrative that it is engaged in a just war, adding that "it has no plan to ever get out of Gaza, so it will eventually sink into the sands there with a permanent occupation that will surely complicate relations with all its Arab allies and friends across the globe."
Friedman explains that "Israel" is also losing regionally to Iran and the Lebanese Resistance in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, who are pressuring the northern, southern, and eastern borders of occupied Palestine.
According to him, the only solution for "Israel" is a "two-state solution", which he believes would strengthen the occupation's relationship with its Arab allies.
However, he warns that if "Israel" fails to see the solution, it would be "imperiling decades of diplomacy to get the world to recognize the right of the Jewish people to national self-determination and self-defense in their historic homeland."
In a message to US President Joe Biden and the Israeli people, Friedman stressed that "I am seeing the increasingly rapid erosion of Israel’s standing among friendly nations — a level of acceptance and legitimacy that was painstakingly built up over decades," warning that "if Biden is not careful, America’s global standing will plummet right along with Israel’s."
