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John Kirby

U.S. prioritizes defense missiles to Ukraine

In the three weeks since President Biden announced a roadmap to end the war in Gaza, Israel has accused the U.S. of withholding weapons, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dissolved his war cabinet and the White House canceled a strategic meeting with Israeli officials. Meanwhile, the White House says shipments of air defense missiles intended to go to other U.S. allies will now be redirected to Ukraine. CBS News national security correspondent David Martin has more.

White House takes questions on Rafah strike

CBS News senior White House and political correspondent Ed O'Keefe on Tuesday asked National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby how this week's Israeli strike on Rafah that killed dozens in a tent camp hadn't violated a "red line" President Biden had laid out for Israel. Kirby responded, "We don't want to see a major ground operation, we haven't seen that at this point." O'Keefe then asked how many more "charred corpses" Mr. Biden needed to see before changing policy on weapons supplies for Israel. Kirby said, "We don't want to see a single more innocent life taken and I kind of take offense to the question." It was one of several questions Kirby faced about the strike during the briefing.

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Still no conditions for U.S. aid to Israel

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby rebuffed questions Tuesday about the United States' continued military assistance for Israel, even after an IDF strike killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza. "You want us to hang some sort of condition over their neck," Kirby said, "And what I'm telling you is, that we continue to work with the Israelis to make sure that they are as precise as they can be and that more aid is getting in. And we're gonna continue to take that approach."

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White House says it won't pull Israel funds

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby bristled at the idea the White House would pull funding from Israel over the blockage of humanitarian aid getting into Gaza during Tuesday's White House briefing. "'Well if [Israel's] not doing what you want then cut off the aid, so they can't defend themselves.' That's not the way we're gonna do this," Kirby said. "They have a right to defend themselves... They need the capabilities to do that. There's aid that's desperately in need, and you know what? We can do that too. We can do both." Kirby was referring to the U.S. military airdropping humanitarian aid into northern Gaza.

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