The Obama administration accused Israel on Thursday of failing to do all it can to prevent civilian casualties in Gaza during cross-border attacks.
Noting the deaths a day earlier of four boys who were killed on a Gaza beach by an Israeli strike, the State Department said the high civilian death toll in Gaza has been "heartbreaking." Three more children were killed in Gaza on Thursday.
Still, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki also criticized Hamas militants in Gaza who continue to fire rockets and mortars into Israel, prolonging the latest round of violence in the Mideast that has so far killed 235 Palestinians and at least one Israeli.
"I don't think we've made any secret about our strong concern about the actions of Hamas, the indiscriminate rocket attacks, the targeting of civilians," Psaki said. "And that concern remains."
Of the Gaza beach attacks that killed four cousins on Wednesday, Psaki called the attack "horrifying."
"The tragic event makes clear that Israel must take every possible step to meet its standards for protecting civilians from being killed," Psaki said. "We will continue to underscore that point to Israel."
Asked whether the U.S. believes Israel has not done enough to prevent civilian casualties, Psaki said: "We believe that certainly there's more that can be done."
Secretary of State John Kerry reiterated U.S. concerns about civilian casualties in a phone call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the State Department said in a statement late Thursday.
Netanyahu described the "imminent threat" posed to Israel by Hamas tunnels from the Gaza Strip, and Kerry reaffirmed strong U.S. support for Israel's right to defend itself against terrorist threats from such tunnels, the statement said. "This should be a precise operation to target tunnels," Kerry said of the Israeli ground incursion into the Gaza Strip.
