A top White House spokesman on Wednesday played down President Biden’s statement a day earlier that Israel was conducting “indiscriminate bombing” in Gaza, saying several times that the president was merely expressing concern about the toll of civilian casualties in the war.
The president’s comments on Tuesday were widely seen as a sign of a new rift between allies and the strongest rebuke by Mr. Biden of Israel since the Oct. 7 attacks, when Hamas killed 1,200 people and took roughly 240 hostage. Since then, at least 15,000 people have died in Israeli airstrikes, Gazan health officials say.
But under repeated questioning about the president’s comments, John F. Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, refused to repeat the statement and sidestepped questions about whether the United States had formally concluded that Israel’s bombing was indiscriminate, which could be a war crime under international law.
“The president was speaking to his concerns about making sure we’re seeing the results that Israel has claimed as their intent, which is to reduce civilian casualties,” Mr. Kirby told reporters. “That’s what he’s talking about.”
Mr. Biden, speaking to campaign donors on Tuesday, said Israel was sacrificing the support it had from countries around the world “by the indiscriminate bombing that takes place.” He added a critique of the Israeli government, saying conservative elements were blocking necessary change.
In Israel, top officials responded pointedly to Mr. Biden’s remarks, making it clear that growing condemnation from the international community would not deter the country from continuing its military onslaught in Gaza until Hamas’s military wing is destroyed and its leaders are killed.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a discussion with Israeli soldiers posted on the social media platform X on Wednesday, was unequivocal. “We are continuing to the end,” he wrote. “It is not even a question.”
Mr. Netanyahu said that despite the pain of losing soldiers and despite international pressure, Israel would keep fighting. “Nothing will stop us,” he said.
Later on Wednesday, the Israeli defense minister, Yoav Gallant, said at a news conference that Israel’s mission was to dismantle Hamas and bring back the hostages, and that it would not stop until those goals were accomplished.
“Gaza has revealed itself as the world’s largest terror base,” Mr. Gallant said, adding, “In order for Israel to continue to exist, it is our obligation to go forward in the difficult and right way.”
At the White House on Wednesday, Mr. Kirby appeared to be trying to smooth over the diplomatic rift. He stressed that the United States supported Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas terrorists, but he also said that the administration believed that Israel was making attempts to minimize civilian casualties.
“We know they’ve stated their intent to reduce the casualties, and they have acted on that,” he said. He noted that the Israeli military had published maps showing where civilians should go to avoid bombing, and that the government had scaled back the ground operation in the northern part of Gaza.
“They are making efforts and they are taking steps,” Mr. Kirby said. He added: “We’re not going to armchair quarterback this from this particular podium. We’re not going to characterize every airstrike.”
The president’s remarks on Tuesday were not the first time he had used the word “indiscriminate” to describe Israel’s actions, though they garnered more attention because of the global frustration about the civilian toll over the past two months.
In mid-November, Mr. Biden said he was pleased that Israel had begun operating in Gaza in a more precise way as it took action against a hospital that Hamas was using to conduct its operations. He contrasted it with the country’s actions at the beginning of the war.
“They’re also bringing in incubators,” Mr. Biden said of Israel at a news conference in California on Nov. 15. “They’re bringing in other means to help the people in the hospital, and they’ve given the doctors and — I’m told — the doctors and nurses and personnel an opportunity to get out of harm’s way.”
“So,” he continued, “this is a different story than I believe was occurring before, an indiscriminate bombing.”
The United States has repeatedly declined to officially declare Israel’s actions in Gaza a violation of international law.
In a briefing after Mr. Biden’s comments in November, Matt Miller, a spokesman for the State Department, said the president was commenting on the “significant collateral damage and loss of civilian life” that had resulted from Israel’s early bombing campaign.
As for an official conclusion about indiscriminate bombing, Mr. Miller said at the time that “it’s not an assessment that we’ve made.” In a separate briefing on Wednesday, Mr. Miller said again that the department had not made a determination that Israel’s actions on the battlefield were indiscriminate.
“We have not made a formal determination to that question,” Mr. Miller told reporters.