The United States troops did not participate in Saturday’s dramatic rescue operation of four hostages held in Gaza, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told a number of major news outlets on Sunday.
“There were no US forces, no US boots on the ground involved in this operation,” Sullivan stated.
He did confirm, however, that the US had provided intelligence support to Israel to help it locate the remaining 120 hostages in Gaza, of which eight are US citizens. Only five of those captives with dual Israeli-US citizenship are believed to be alive.
“The US has been providing support to Israel for several months in its efforts to help identify the locations of hostages in Gaza and to support efforts to try to secure their rescue or recovery,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan confirms administration's continued support to free hostages
“I can only just say that we have generally provided support to the IDF so that we can try to get all of the hostages home including the American hostages who are still being held,” he stated.
Sullivan also expressed remorse for the Palestinian casualties as a result of the operation, with Hamas reporting over 270 deaths, while the IDF has placed that number at 90, explaining that combatants were among them.
The deaths are “tragic” and “heartbreaking,” Sullivan stated, as he placed the blame on Hamas.
“The president himself has said in recent days that the Palestinian people are going through sheer hell in this conflict because Hamas is operating in a way that puts them in the crossfire,” Sullivan said.
He made references to the fact that the four hostages in question had been held in civilian homes in a civilian neighborhood, which in turn means that this is where the IDF military operations take place.
In an interview with CBS, he stated, “Hamas hides among the civilian population, holds hostages among the civilian population, fires at the IDF from behind the civilian population.”
Separately, Sullivan did not speculate as to whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would meet with Biden when he is in Washington next month to deliver an address to a joint session of Congress.
Biden has yet to host Netanyahu at the White House since he entered office, a situation which has frustrated the Israeli leader.
Sullivan said, when pressed on the matter, “I don’t have anything to announce today.”
Netanyahu is “coming to address the Congress. The president talks to him all the time, and has regular communication with him. Will continue to have regular communication with him.”