White House says it won’t pull funding from Israel despite aid blockade to Gaza

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby bristled at the idea the White House would pull funding from Israel over the blockage of humanitarian aid getting into Gaza during Tuesday’s White House briefing. “‘Well if [Israel’s] not doing what you want then cut off the aid, so they can’t defend themselves.’ That’s not the way we’re gonna do this,” Kirby said. “They have a right to defend themselves… They need the capabilities to do that. There’s aid that’s desperately in need, and you know what? We can do that too. We can do both.” Kirby was referring to the U.S. military airdropping humanitarian aid into northern Gaza.