U.S. Department of State Weekly Digest Bulletin

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Events at the Embassy of Mexico in Ecuador

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04/06/2024 09:15 PM EDT

Matthew Miller, Department Spokesperson

The United States condemns any violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, and takes very seriously the obligation of host countries under international law to respect the inviolability of diplomatic missions.

Mexico and Ecuador are crucial partners of the United States, and we place a high value on our relations with both countries.  We encourage the two countries to resolve their differences in accord with international norms.

Public Schedule – April 8, 2024

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04/07/2024 09:06 PM EDT

Office of the Spokesperson

***THE DAILY PUBLIC SCHEDULE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE*** 

 

SECRETARY ANTONY J. BLINKEN

11:00 a.m. Secretary Blinken meets with Israeli Opposition Leader Yair Lapid at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

DEPUTY SECRETARY KURT M. CAMPBELL

Deputy Secretary Campbell attends meetings and briefings at the Department of State.

DEPUTY SECRETARY FOR MANAGEMENT AND RESOURCES RICHARD R. VERMA

Deputy Secretary Verma attends meetings and briefings at the Department of State.

ACTING UNDER SECRETARY FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS JOHN BASS

Acting Under Secretary Bass attends meetings and briefings at the Department of State.

BRIEFING SCHEDULE

1:15 p.m. Department Press Briefing with Spokesperson Matthew Miller.
(OPEN PRESS COVERAGE)

The Department Press Briefing will be streamed live on the Department homepage and YouTube Channel.

International Roma Day

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04/08/2024 08:28 AM EDT

International Roma Day

Press Statement

April 8, 2024

On behalf of the United States, I extend my best wishes to Romani communities everywhere on International Roma Day. We celebrate the rich culture, language, and heritage of Roma, including generations of Romani-Americans who have contributed to the United States.

Roma continue to face racism, discrimination, and xenophobia in many parts of the world, leading to disproportionate poverty, injustice, and even violence against Romani communities. Roma also remain among the world’s most disenfranchised ethnic communities. Ensuring that Romani voters have the right to participate unimpeded in free and fair elections is vital. The U.S. remains committed to promoting the human rights, equality, and dignity of Romani persons domestically and internationally.

International Roma Day

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04/08/2024 08:28 AM EDT

International Roma Day

Press Statement

April 8, 2024

On behalf of the United States, I extend my best wishes to Romani communities everywhere on International Roma Day. We celebrate the rich culture, language, and heritage of Roma, including generations of Romani-Americans who have contributed to the United States.

Roma continue to face racism, discrimination, and xenophobia in many parts of the world, leading to disproportionate poverty, injustice, and even violence against Romani communities. Roma also remain among the world’s most disenfranchised ethnic communities. Ensuring that Romani voters have the right to participate unimpeded in free and fair elections is vital. The U.S. remains committed to promoting the human rights, equality, and dignity of Romani persons domestically and internationally.

U.S. Soccer Icons Carli Lloyd and Brandi Chastain Headline U.S. Department of State’s Spring Roster of Soccer Sports Envoys 

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04/08/2024 12:21 PM EDT

HomeOffice of the SpokespersonPress Releases…U.S. Soccer Icons Carli Lloyd and Brandi Chastain Headline U.S. Department of State’s Spring Roster of Soccer Sports Envoys 
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U.S. Soccer Icons Carli Lloyd and Brandi Chastain Headline U.S. Department of State’s Spring Roster of Soccer Sports Envoys 

Media Note

April 8, 2024

The U.S. Department of State announced today that American soccer icons Carli Lloyd and Brandi Chastain will headline the 2024 spring roster of U.S. Soccer Sports Envoys.  U.S. Sports Envoys are elite American athletes and coaches who travel overseas to engage youth and are an integral part of the United States’ vast diplomatic efforts to elevate sports to promote peace and democracy around the world.  

Lloyd, a former captain of the U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) who is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, two-time FIFA Women’s World Cup champion, two-time FIFA Player of the Year, and sports broadcaster, will travel April 22-26 to Greece where she will team up with U.S. Men’s National Team (USMNT) alumnus Cobi Jones to engage youth on and off the field through soccer clinics and leadership workshops.  Jones holds the all-time record of international appearances (also known as caps) for the USMNT, and competed in three FIFA World Cups, as well as the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona. 

Chastain, a two-time FIFA Women’s World Cup champion, two-time Olympic gold medalist, coach, and sports broadcaster, is on travel April 4-9 to the Azores with youth soccer development expert Radovan Pletka, where they are engaging young women soccer players.  While there, Chastain and Pletka are conducting soccer clinics, as well as leadership workshops that highlight the importance of education and inclusion.  Chastain scored the winning goal during a penalty kick shootout to crown the 1999 USWNT FIFA World Cup Champions.  In April 2023, Chastain co-founded Bay FC, the National Women’s Soccer League’s newest expansion team.  

Rounding out the 2024 spring lineup of sports envoys are U.S. Women’s National Team alumnae Joanna Lohman and Kacey White, who traveled March 1-8 to Cambodia, where they worked with young soccer players and coaches in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap to elevate inclusion, tolerance, and gender equality both on and off the field of competition. Both Lohman and White have served as U.S. Sports Envoys previously.  Lohman also played for the Washington Spirit, the Washington, DC-based National Women’s Soccer League, and was the organization’s first player to have her number 15 jersey retired. 

For more information on the United States’ global efforts to promote peace and democracy through sports, please contact eca-press@state.gov

Assistant Secretary Pyatt’s Travel to Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania; Leads U.S. Delegation to the 2024 Three Seas Initiative

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04/08/2024 02:46 PM EDT

Office of the Spokesperson

Bureau of Energy Resources Assistant Secretary Geoffrey R. Pyatt will travel April 8-12 to Tallinn, Estonia; Riga, Latvia; and Vilnius, Lithuania.  He will engage with senior interlocutors on regional energy security issues, including the Baltic states’ swift progress de-coupling from Russian energy; continued support for Ukraine’s energy sector under the G7+ partnership in the face of brutal Russian attacks; cooperation to curb the energy revenues Russia uses to fund its war against Ukraine; and efforts to advance the energy transition and secure clean energy and critical mineral supply chains.

On April 9, Assistant Secretary Pyatt will hold meetings in Tallinn, Estonia, with government counterparts and welcome Estonia’s new role in the Minerals Security Partnership.  He will meet with the Estonian Hydrogen Cluster, comprised of public and private industry working to advance the energy transition through development of the first nationwide “Hydrogen Valley,” to complete a hydrogen value chain in Estonia.

Assistant Secretary Pyatt will then travel to Riga, Latvia to meet with President Rinkevics’s Advisors and other senior government officials.  He will also discuss energy security progress with senior management of Latvenergo, Conexus Baltic Grid, and AST, Latvia’s energy infrastructure companies.

Finally, Assistant Secretary Pyatt will lead the U.S. delegation to the 2024 Three Seas Initiative (3SI) Summit and Business Forum, April 11 in Vilnius, Lithuania.  He will reinforce the importance of continued support to Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in the face of targeted Russian attacks.  Alongside key regional counterparts, he will discuss the critical role of the 3SI region in helping Europe diversify its energy routes and sources and develop future clean energy supply chains.  He will also highlight opportunities for 3SI countries to build further energy and infrastructure links with new partner-participants Ukraine and Moldova, as well as the Western Balkans.

3SI aims to promote cooperation for the development of infrastructure in the energy, transport, and digital sectors.  It targets new investments, economic growth, and energy security, bringing together 13 countries located between the Baltic, Black, and Adriatic seas – Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia, with Ukraine and Moldova as formal partners.

For further media information, please contact ENR-PD-Clearances@state.gov.

Assistant Secretary Pyatt’s Travel to Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania; Leads U.S. Delegation to the 2024 Three Seas Initiative

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04/08/2024 02:46 PM EDT

Office of the Spokesperson

Bureau of Energy Resources Assistant Secretary Geoffrey R. Pyatt will travel April 8-12 to Tallinn, Estonia; Riga, Latvia; and Vilnius, Lithuania.  He will engage with senior interlocutors on regional energy security issues, including the Baltic states’ swift progress de-coupling from Russian energy; continued support for Ukraine’s energy sector under the G7+ partnership in the face of brutal Russian attacks; cooperation to curb the energy revenues Russia uses to fund its war against Ukraine; and efforts to advance the energy transition and secure clean energy and critical mineral supply chains.

On April 9, Assistant Secretary Pyatt will hold meetings in Tallinn, Estonia, with government counterparts and welcome Estonia’s new role in the Minerals Security Partnership.  He will meet with the Estonian Hydrogen Cluster, comprised of public and private industry working to advance the energy transition through development of the first nationwide “Hydrogen Valley,” to complete a hydrogen value chain in Estonia.

Assistant Secretary Pyatt will then travel to Riga, Latvia to meet with President Rinkevics’s Advisors and other senior government officials.  He will also discuss energy security progress with senior management of Latvenergo, Conexus Baltic Grid, and AST, Latvia’s energy infrastructure companies.

Finally, Assistant Secretary Pyatt will lead the U.S. delegation to the 2024 Three Seas Initiative (3SI) Summit and Business Forum, April 11 in Vilnius, Lithuania.  He will reinforce the importance of continued support to Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in the face of targeted Russian attacks.  Alongside key regional counterparts, he will discuss the critical role of the 3SI region in helping Europe diversify its energy routes and sources and develop future clean energy supply chains.  He will also highlight opportunities for 3SI countries to build further energy and infrastructure links with new partner-participants Ukraine and Moldova, as well as the Western Balkans.

3SI aims to promote cooperation for the development of infrastructure in the energy, transport, and digital sectors.  It targets new investments, economic growth, and energy security, bringing together 13 countries located between the Baltic, Black, and Adriatic seas – Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia, with Ukraine and Moldova as formal partners.

For further media information, please contact ENR-PD-Clearances@state.gov.

Senior Coordinator for Atlantic Cooperation Lapenn’s Travel to Spain and UN Ocean Decade Conference

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04/08/2024 05:32 PM EDT

Office of the Spokesperson

Ambassador Jessye Lapenn, Senior Coordinator for Atlantic Cooperation, will travel April 8-12 to Spain.  In Madrid, she will engage with the Government of Spain and civil society organizations on how the Partnership for Atlantic Cooperation is advancing shared goals on sustainable economic development, scientific collaboration, and environmental conservation.  At the UN Ocean Decade Conference in Barcelona, she will participate in an event highlighting the need to build a strong scientific community in support of a sustainable Atlantic Ocean alongside the All-Atlantic Ocean Research and Innovation Alliance.

The Partnership for Atlantic Cooperation connects 39 countries north, south, east, and west of the Atlantic Ocean to collaborate on collective problem-solving and uphold a set of shared principles for Atlantic cooperation.  For more information, visit the Atlantic Partnership website.

Senior Coordinator for Atlantic Cooperation Lapenn’s Travel to Spain and UN Ocean Decade Conference

You are subscribed to Press Releases for U.S. Department of State. This information has recently been updated, and is now available.

04/08/2024 05:32 PM EDT

Office of the Spokesperson

Ambassador Jessye Lapenn, Senior Coordinator for Atlantic Cooperation, will travel April 8-12 to Spain.  In Madrid, she will engage with the Government of Spain and civil society organizations on how the Partnership for Atlantic Cooperation is advancing shared goals on sustainable economic development, scientific collaboration, and environmental conservation.  At the UN Ocean Decade Conference in Barcelona, she will participate in an event highlighting the need to build a strong scientific community in support of a sustainable Atlantic Ocean alongside the All-Atlantic Ocean Research and Innovation Alliance.

The Partnership for Atlantic Cooperation connects 39 countries north, south, east, and west of the Atlantic Ocean to collaborate on collective problem-solving and uphold a set of shared principles for Atlantic cooperation.  For more information, visit the Atlantic Partnership website.

Department Press Briefing – April 8, 2024

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04/08/2024 06:37 PM EDT

HomeDepartment Press Briefing – April 8, 2024
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Department Press Briefing – April 8, 2024

April 8, 2024

1:24 p.m. EDT

MR MILLER: Good afternoon, everyone.

QUESTION: Hello.

MR MILLER: Welcome back, Matt —

QUESTION: Thank you.

MR MILLER: — and those of you who were traveling with the Secretary.

QUESTION: Yes.

MR MILLER: Just pull up my opening comments here. All right. I’m going to start with an update on humanitarian assistance in Gaza.

Following President Biden’s call with Prime Minister Netanyahu last week in which he emphasized that Israel must take immediate action to protect civilians and get more aid into Gaza, we have seen a number of initial positive steps over the past few days.

First, the Israeli cabinet has agreed to open a new northern crossing, which could be operational this week and would represent an important step in delivering assistance directly to northern Gaza, where we know the humanitarian situation is most severe.

The Israeli cabinet also approved the use of Ashdod as a port of entry for relief, which if implemented could significantly facilitate the flow of assistance.

In addition, we have seen the initial implementation of a streamlined process for regular truck convoys moving from Jordan through Israel and into Gaza carrying essential supplies to those in dire need. The Government of Jordan has played an important role in facilitating humanitarian assistance to Gaza, and we commend them for being ready to step up and do even more.

Yesterday, 304 aid trucks entered Gaza, the highest number of trucks in any single day since the conflict began. That number represents a significant improvement, but it is important not just that we see the daily number continue to grow, but that it be sustained over time. Our hope is that by later this week, 350 trucks will enter Gaza each day, and we are working hard across the United States Government to make that happen.

We also welcome the announcement by the – that the IDF is establishing a coordination unit for deconfliction as a direct contact point with the humanitarian community. More than 200 humanitarian workers have been killed during this conflict, and we have repeatedly pressed the Israeli Government on the need to improve its deconfliction and coordination measures. The creation of this new unit, which Prime Minister – which is something President Biden raised directly with Prime Minister Netanyahu on their call last week and which Secretary Blinken has raised in his meetings with Israeli officials, can contribute to the safety of those who are working tirelessly to bring relief to the Palestinian people. We will be observing closely its establishment to verify that it operates as intended to ensure humanitarian workers can do their jobs as safely as possible.

While we welcome these initial steps, it’s crucial to recognize that much more needs to be done. Many Palestinians in Gaza are at risk of famine, and every single man, woman, and child in Gaza is experiencing food insecurity. So these recent efforts must be just the starting point for a sustained Israeli commitment to ensure that the people of Gaza have their basic needs met. We expect Israel to fully implement its commitments quickly and we will be monitoring that implementation. As Secretary Blinken has said, ultimately it is the results that matter, and we will be judging them on those results.

And with that, Matt.

QUESTION: Okay, great. So – but it is correct, though, that you guys have not yet come to a determination as to whether the steps that Israel has undertaken now the last couple days, or is undertaking, meet your – I don’t want to say requirements, but your – but meet criteria that you have laid out? It’s not – you haven’t decided that yet?

MR MILLER: It’s something that we are going to assess over time because as I was pointing out, it is not just important that they take initial steps to facilitate the increase of humanitarian assistance, but that increased flow of humanitarian assistance be sustained over time. We’ve had these moments before, most notably during the hostage – the pause back in November when we saw humanitarian assistance increase and then come back down, and what we want to see is a sustained increase. So —

QUESTION: All right.

MR MILLER: New entries open up and they stay open; more trucks go in and they keep going in.

QUESTION: But you guys have been calling for these actions for months now. Why – what – why do you think that they’ve now started – you have – you can’t hazard a guess?

MR MILLER: So I can hazard a guess, but I’m not going to speak for the Israeli Government. I’m —

QUESTION: No. But I mean —

MR MILLER: Sure. I’m not —

QUESTION: Since December at least, even before —

MR MILLER: Yeah.

QUESTION: — you guys have been saying, you need to work – open a northern crossing. And then when they did open the one, you said – you kept going on about Erez, and that needs to be done. Ashdod, the Jordanian line – all of that stuff – in January, when we were there in Amman, you guys were talking about how important that was. And now it’s April and it’s just starting to happen now. So why?

MR MILLER: So I can’t speak for the Israeli Government, but I can —

QUESTION: Speak for the U.S. Government.

MR MILLER: I can – I’m about to. I can – what I can say is we have made clear over time the changes that we wanted to see implemented. We’ve seen some changes over time, but it has not been enough, and there has been an increasing sense of frustration inside the United States Government that they have not taken some of these steps that we have been recommending and urging for some time. And the President last week made clear that ultimately their policy needed changes, change, or ours would.

QUESTION: All right. Okay. And in the meantime, since you’ve been calling for all this, what has happened on the ground?

MR MILLER: A number of things have happened on the ground, but the most important thing that we have seen is dramatically increased food insecurity inside Gaza.

QUESTION: No, I’m talking about – I’m not – no. Between, let’s – let’s just say —

MR MILLER: That’s why I started with “a number of things happened on the ground”; I don’t know which one you’re going for.

QUESTION: Let’s just say – let’s just start from January 1st of this year. Between January 1st and now, April whatever it is – 8th – what has changed on the ground in Gaza?

MR MILLER: With respect – well, I started to answer with respect to food —

QUESTION: How many more —

MR MILLER: You seem to have an answer in mind.

QUESTION: — dead people are there?

MR MILLER: Yeah.

QUESTION: How many more starving people are there? How many more civilian or – facilities, infrastructure, how much more of that has been destroyed? How many more aid workers have been killed?

MR MILLER: So there have been 200 aid workers total that have been killed.

QUESTION: Yeah.

MR MILLER: It’s really been a constant since the beginning. And we have been making clear that there need to be better deconfliction and coordination measures, and that – I will tell you that the step that they are taking now is important, but it’s overdue.

QUESTION: Okay. All right. So —

MR MILLER: It should have happened months ago. A lot of these steps should have been – happened months ago. We’re happy that they’re happening now, but they need to be increased and they need to be sustained.

QUESTION: So I’ll stop after this, but I – and recognizing that often hindsight is 20/20, shouldn’t you have done – put the ultimatum, or shouldn’t the President have done that months ago?

MR MILLER: So we have made clear to them for months what we expect them to do, and we have seen —

QUESTION: Back up by —

MR MILLER: And we have seen them take steps at our urging, and some of those steps have been important, but they haven’t been sufficient. And all I can say is that we welcome the initial – that the initial steps they have taken over the past few days, they represent a dramatic improvement if fully implemented, but we’re going to judge them ultimately by the results.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MR MILLER: Yeah.

QUESTION: I wonder if we could come to the hostage negotiations. One of the other things the President said to the – Prime Minister Netanyahu in the call, according to the readout, was that the Israelis should empower – or Netanyahu should empower his negotiators to make a deal. Have you seen any evidence of a change in that regard?

MR MILLER: So I am not going to speak in detail with respect to the hostage negotiations other than to say that there is a deal that’s on the table for Hamas, and we hope that they’ll accept it. We do believe that the Israeli Government is ready to make a deal. They want to see their hostages returned. But we have to see Hamas being willing to accept such a deal.

QUESTION: So – but the implication of the way that came out in the readout was that so far, those negotiators hadn’t been fully empowered. And there’s been criticism from the Israeli opposition that they haven’t sought a deal as hard as they could have done, right? Is that – is that not the case?

MR MILLER: We have seen Israel put a deal on the table in the past. And we wanted to make sure – and that’s what you saw us speak to in that readout – that as these new sets of negotiations unfold, that the negotiators there are fully empowered to make a deal. But it’s not true that Israel hasn’t been willing to make a deal in the past because they have been. There have been deals on the table that Hamas has rejected, and there is now a deal on the table, and we want to – we hope that Hamas will reject it. We believe, as we’ve believed all along, that a ceasefire would be in the interest not just of the hostages, that it – whose release it would enable, but also in the interest of the Palestinian people, who are suffering greatly.

QUESTION: So you say now there’s a deal which Hamas – you hope they will accept. What is different about this deal from the previous ones that they’ve rejected?

MR MILLER: That I’m not going to get into, just because I don’t think getting into the back and forth of negotiations is helpful from the podium.

QUESTION: Sure.

MR MILLER: Yeah.

QUESTION: Just sticking in the region, the prime minister just said, like, in the last hour or so that a date for the Rafah invasion has been set. Have the Israelis shared that date with the U.S.?

MR MILLER: To my knowledge, we have not been briefed on that date.

QUESTION: And given what the Israelis have briefed U.S. officials on to date in terms of their plans for the operation, I assume that what you’ve seen thus far would not be something that the U.S. would approve?

MR MILLER: So we have not yet seen them present a credible plan for dealing with the 1.4 million civilians who are in Rafah, some of whom have been – have moved more than once, and some of whom have moved more than twice. But even more than that, we have made clear to Israel that we think a full-scale military invasion of Rafah would have an enormously harmful effect on those civilians, and that it would ultimately hurt Israel’s security. So it’s not just a question of Israel presenting a plan to us. We have made clear to them that we think that there is a better way to achieve what is a legitimate goal, which is to degrade and dismantle and defeat the Hamas battalions that still remain in Rafah.

So I think as you obviously know, we had a conversation with them about it last week. Secretary Blinken participated in that conversation with leaders from the White House and other agencies of the United States Government. There will be further conversations over the coming days, coming weeks where we can continue to lay out our beliefs about this potential operation and how they could achieve it in a better way. And we’ll go from there.

QUESTION: Matt, can I follow up on —

MR MILLER: Yeah, Said.

QUESTION: Thank you. Just to follow up on the talks, so you’re saying that there is a deal on the table, and it’s up to Hamas to accept it and so on. Now, would that deal include the withdrawal of all Israeli forces from the whole of Gaza, do you think?

MR MILLER: So I am going to maintain my rule of not commenting on potential – on negotiations or what the contours of any deal might look like from this podium.

QUESTION: Yeah. I fully understand. But is that something that the United States would consider or would support? I mean, I’m sure there is some sort of conversation in this building.

MR MILLER: Are you – you fully understand and continue to ask me to violate that rule, which I am going to refrain from doing.

QUESTION: Okay.

MR MILLER: Said, I’m not – I only say it with respect. It just – I don’t think it’s helpful for us to talk publicly about what are obviously very sensitive and delicate private negotiations.

QUESTION: Okay. Do you feel we’re closer to a deal today than we were, let’s say, a couple days ago?

MR MILLER: I’m just not going to comment on the negotiations at all.

QUESTION: All right. Let me ask you on Rafah. Now, the United States rejects any kind of plan that does not include the safe movement of 1.4 million Palestinians from Rafah. So —

MR MILLER: That’s not exactly it, Said. That is not exactly it. As I was trying to say in response to Kylie’s question, we don’t think a full-scale operation in Rafah is something that we could support in any event because we think it would, number one, harm all the more than 1.4 million Palestinians that are there.

Welcome to the briefing, Hiba.

It would harm – it would harm those Palestinians there. It would hinder the delivery of humanitarian assistance. So we have made clear that we don’t want to see that full-scale invasion in any event.

QUESTION: Right. But is it feasible to really move 1.4 million Palestinian safely —

MR MILLER: I think it would be very difficult to do, which is why we have made clear that we cannot support that kind of operation.

QUESTION: All right, a couple more questions. The secretary-general on – the United Nations secretary-general on Friday expressed concern that Israel is using artificial intelligence to target Palestinians. Are you aware of that report?

MR MILLER: I’ve seen the reports; I don’t have any further information on it.

QUESTION: And lastly – I promises it’s lastly – on UNRWA, I mean, if the last couple of weeks taught us anything, it taught us that the only people that really can conduct the dispensing of aid and movement and so on are really UNRWA, effectively, simply by virtue of a very long experience. So I know that the United States, at least until next year, will not be funding UNRWA. But would you pressure the Israelis to allow UNRA workers to conduct their operations in Gaza? Would you tell them that there seems to be no one else that can do this job as good as they can?

MR MILLER: We have repeatedly made clear to the Israeli Government the importance – the important role that UNRWA plays in delivering humanitarian assistance and said that that work should go on unhindered.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MR MILLER: Go ahead.

QUESTION: I have two questions. So you – you expressed concern about the fate of 1.4 million civilians who are trapped in Rafah. As you said, these people moved twice or three times at least. Would you accept returning these IDPs to the north, especially women and children? Because the Israelis seem to be opposing that, and by moving people from harm’s way to an area that’s being cleared and declared by Netanyahu as normal military operations there and Hamas is not viable, so why not allowing these people to go back to their original homes – what’s left from them?

MR MILLER: So we have made clear – the Secretary has spoken to this on a number of occasions – that we do want to see the Palestinian people be able to return to their homes, whether they be in Khan Younis, whether they be in the north. Now, it needs to be safe for them to do so. They need to be able to return to homes that aren’t in the middle of ongoing military activity. If there is unexploded ordnance, that ordnance needs to be dealt with. If there are booby traps or other IEDs that Hamas has left, those need to be dealt with so people aren’t returning to apartment buildings that are unsafe. But we do support the return of Palestinians to their homes and their neighborhoods and have made that clear on a number of occasions.

QUESTION: Just one —

QUESTION: Sorry. How many livable homes in the north do you think that there are, in Khan Younis? How many – how many actually? You talked about it being safe and all these kind of things.

MR MILLER: So the —

QUESTION: I mean, the destruction is pretty massive.

MR MILLER: It is a great question.

QUESTION: So where would they return to?

MR MILLER: A huge number of them have been destroyed. That is without a doubt. There are some homes that are still habitable. There are some apartment buildings that are still habitable. It is —

QUESTION: And you know this how?

MR MILLER: You can look and see the – that there are buildings that are still habitable. People report on the ground that there are buildings that are still habitable throughout Gaza. Now, a massive number have been destroyed, but they’re – we hear from people who want to return either to their homes or they want to return to their neighborhoods so they can start to rebuild their homes, and we support their right to do so, recognizing that there is a very difficult road ahead of them.

Matt, I will note you never apologized for interrupting me. (Laughter.)

QUESTION: Well, because you don’t – I’m not sure you deserve an apology.

QUESTION: Gentlemen.

MR MILLER: Fair. Fair enough. (Laughter.)

QUESTION: Okay, that’s fine. He followed up for me. The second question is Mr. Kirby said on Sunday that – and let me quote him so I’ll be accurate. He said the U.S. has not found any evidence of Israel violating international law. He refers to the State Department. He said the State Department have a “normal process” where if there’s an incident reported, they will follow up. And they concluded – you, the State Department concluded – that Israel has not violated international law.

So my question to you is: In the face of all the human – or the organization, humanitarian organizations working in Gaza, including MSF yesterday, that they said Israel has targeted not just aid workers but doctors and journalists. And Chef José Andrés said as well that Israel has committed crime against humanity. Why the U.S. is not conducting an investigation regarding – regardless of these incidents for an investigation like you asked for – like you asked to be conducted in Ukraine after the Russian invasion?

MR MILLER: So we do have a number of ongoing assessments with respect to this very question. We have not yet —

QUESTION: But assessment is different than investigation, right?

MR MILLER: We – they are – that is how we do – that’s how we operate inside the State Department is we have a number of different bureaus, experts from across our bureaus that look at facts, apply them to international law, and make assessments. Those assessments are ongoing and we have not yet at this time concluded that Israel has violated international humanitarian law, but we have ongoing assessments across a number of different fronts.

QUESTION: So all these organizations are just wrong? They just see the law differently than you? Or you just cannot find —

MR MILLER: I am telling you that we have ongoing assessments and we have not yet reached that conclusion.

Janne, go ahead.

QUESTION: Thank you, Matt. On South Korea —

MR MILLER: I’ll come to you next, yeah.

QUESTION: All right. Yes, thank you. On the South Korea’s military satellite launch, how does the United States view the successful launch of South Koreans’ military reconnaissance satellite from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida yesterday?

MR M

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