Kirby: I Won’t Rule ‘In or Out’ if U.S. Troops Will Help Free American Hostages in Israel-Hamas War
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National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on this week’s broadcast of “Fox News Sunday” that he would not rule out U.S. troops being deployed on the ground to free hostages caught in the Israel-Hamas war.
Anchor Shannon Bream said, “Senator Tom Cotton has said special operations forces should be there. They have an obligation to get Americans out, especially those we think are being held hostage. Would we have U.S. boots on the ground for that?”
Kirby said, “There’s no plans or intentions to put U.S. troops on the ground to fight in this fight between Israel and Hamas.”
Bream said, “But to retrieve Americans?”
Kirby said, “We are actively trying to find out exactly where they are. I mean, Shannon, we don’t even know how many exactly. We have a small handful. We know there could be more than we know that could be in different groups. It could be moved around.”
We are going to be careful about what we say publicly about our efforts to get those hostages home. Secretary Blinken is in the region right now traveling around. I can tell you this is high on his agenda. We’re working on this literally by the hour.”
Bream said, “Would you absolutely rule out he possibility of any kind of U.S. forces being on the ground there?”
Kirby said, “What I won’t do is rule anything in or out when it comes to getting our hostages home.”
He added, “We’re working on this literally by the hour but again, in order for you to develop specific policy options, you got to have a lot more contextual information than is available to use right now and we’re working at that.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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