Kirby says US did not give 'OK' on Israel's hospital operation
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby on Wednesday denied that the U.S. gave any "OK" for the Israeli operation at Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital.
"These are Israeli military operations that they plan and they execute on, you know, in accordance with their own established procedures, that the United States is not, was not, involved in," Kirby said.
He also denied that the U.S. confirming intelligence that Hamas uses the hospital as a control center had anything to do with the timing of the Israeli military operation at the hospital, which began only hours after Kirby's announcement.
Kirby also said Israel's hospital operation was "not a focus" of President Joe Biden's Tuesday night conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and would not say if the U.S. got a heads up about the operation.
"Again, we don't expect the Israelis to advise us or inform us when they are going to conduct operations," Kirby said. "We talked to them routinely every day, and certainly we talked to them about our continued concerns over civilian casualties and sharing our perspectives on the best way to minimize, but these are their operations."
-ABC News' Sarah Kolinovsky