Pelosi says U.S. should 'more fully leverage' relationship with Israel to reduce civilian casualties

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said the U.S. should “more fully leverage” its relationship with Israel to reduce civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip. 

Pelosi said the situation in Gaza is “intolerable," but reiterated the U.S. support for Israel and the Jewish state’s right to defend itself, calling the country “our security partner, our values partner, and the rest.” 

“The distinction here that the debate is about is, where do you draw the line between,” Pelosi said during her Saturday appearance at The Texas Tribune Festival in Austin when asked if Congressional Democrats will continue to support giving U.S. weapons to Israel.  

“We have always said we would help Israel defend itself, where people might be thinking some of these weapons are being used offensively,” she added. “It's a challenge. It's not as easy as it may seem, but I do think that we should be able to use our leverage more fully with Israel to make sure that the collateral damage to civilians is not anything that we can associate ourselves with.” 

The 11-month war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas kicked off on Oct. 7. Hamas militants killed more than 1,100 Israelis in the southern part of the country and took around 250 hostages. In response, the Israeli military’s campaign has, so far, killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials. The count does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants. 

The White House has for months pressed Israel to do more to prevent civilian casualties in Gaza. 

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this week that a cease-fire and hostage release deal was “not close,” saying that Hamas is not negotiating in good faith. 

“We do not need new proposals, what is needed now is to pressure Netanyahu and his government and obligate them to what was agreed upon,” a statement from Hamas said. “We warn against falling into Netanyahu’s trap and his tricks, as he is using negotiations to prolong the aggression against our people.”

Pelosi called Hamas a terrorist organization. She said that Oct. 7 was a “horrible day” and the “consequences of it were horrible.” 

“So it's not to be ignoring how we got to this place, but it is to be saying there has to be a better way to deal with this, than tens of thousands of Palestinians being killed,” she said. 

In late April, she said that Netanyahu is an “obstacle” to a two-state solution and that he should resign. 

“So we have to take it to a two-state solution, and I use the word solution very positively, there has to be a solution that is to state that says that Israel and Palestinians, creating their state, will have the security to protect themselves, to reach their fulfillment, to self determine who they want to be as a country,” she said on Saturday. 

“Until we get to a solution we still will have these challenges, but it is, it really is heartbreaking.”