White House rebuffs mounting Democratic pressure on Gaza ceasefire

The White House maintained its opposition to a permanent ceasefire in Gaza Friday, despite mounting pressure to reverse course from members of President Joe Biden‘s own party.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre faced a number of questions from reporters on the topic while traveling with Biden to Lewiston, Maine, the site of two deadly mass shootings the week prior.

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“We’ve been very, very clear on this, and again, Secretary Blinken actually spoke to this in his opening remarks before he took questions with the press corps that’s traveling with him, which is now is not the time for a permanent ceasefire,” she stated in response to one such question. “It would benefit Hamas, give them time to regroup and plot a new attack or new attacks.

Jean-Pierre reiterated Biden’s call for a “humanitarian pause” in the fighting to allow civilians and Hamas hostages to evacuate Gaza.

Later in the briefing, Jean-Pierre was pressed on the multiple Democratic lawmakers and officials petitioning Biden to openly call for a ceasefire and asked about the administration’s message to Democrats who disagree with the president’s position.

“Israel has a right to defend itself against Hamas, which has said that it will repeat October 7 until Israel is eliminated. That’s what Hamas said. We heard that from them directly. Israel has an added burden because Hamas has taken civilians as human shields for its terrorist infrastructure, but that does not lessen the responsibility for Israel to act consistently with the laws of war. It’s critical to distinguish between terrorists and civilians. Every civilian death is a tragedy, Palestinian, Israeli, every loss of life is heartbreaking, and the president believes in the sanctity and dignity of every innocent life,” Jean-Pierre said.

She continued, “The people of Gaza didn’t ask for this. Hamas doesn’t speak for them and instead places them in greater danger. So we know there has been enormous loss there and that too many families are grieving. Too many have been grieving, and too many have been hurt, and too many are missing, and we will continue to do everything that we can to get life-saving assistance to those who need it.”

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You can listen to Friday’s press conference in full below.