State Department spokesman Matthew Miller dodged a question Monday about whether the United States would take in refugees from Gaza.

Israel urged residents of Gaza to evacuate on Oct. 13, citing the potential for ground operations against Hamas by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York called on the Biden administration to accept refugees from Gaza on Oct. 14, even though The Washington Post and Reuters reported that Arab countries have so far been unwilling to take in refuges from Gaza. 

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“Will the U.S. allow Gazan refugees to enter the United States?” a reporter asked Miller. “Are there plans to Gazan refugees into the U.S.?” “We believe that the people of Gaza want to stay in Gaza,” Miller responded, adding, “That’s what we’ve consistently heard from Palestinian leadership and others in the region, and we believe that they have the right to do so.”

Israel is carrying out military operations in response to a deadly terrorist attack carried out by the radical Islamic terrorist group on multiple locations in southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing over 1,400 people, including at least 31 Americans, according to Reuters. President Joe Biden announced a $100 million aid package for Gaza on Oct. 18, less than two weeks after Israel began military operations against Hamas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Saturday a new phase in Israel’s war with Hamas, which included additional ground raids by the IDF. “This is our second war of independence. We will fight for the protection of our homeland and we will fight on the ground, in the air, in the sea and we will eliminate the enemy above the ground and beneath the ground,” Netanyahu said in the speech.

Harold Hutchison on October 30, 2023