Department Press Briefing – November 4, 2024 – United States Department of State

The United States is deeply concerned by these and other recent reports of increasing extremist settler violence in the West Bank, including in Jurat Al Khiel, near Hebron, where Palestinians were attacked by scores of extremist settlers who damaged property, assaulted civilians, and released dogs to attack residents, and in the Palestinian village of Jalud, south of Nablus, where dozens of extremist settlers reportedly killed livestock, attacked homes, and set fire to vehicles. We are also concerned about the increase in reported attacks by extremist settlers that are preventing Palestinians from harvesting their olive crops in the West Bank.

These violent actions cause intense human suffering for Palestinians, they threaten Israel’s security, make the realization of a two-state solution more difficult, and undermine the prospects for peace and stability throughout the region. It is critical that the Government of Israel deter extremist settler violence and take measures to protect all communities from harm, in accordance with its international obligations. This includes intervening, preventing, and stopping such violence.

It is further incumbent upon the relevant authorities to do everything possible to de-escalate tensions and hold all perpetrators of violence against civilians equally accountable – no matter the background of the perpetrator or the victim.

The United States maintains several measures to promote accountability and combat increasing extremist settler violence. Since February of this year, the United States has imposed sanctions on 14 individuals and 13 entities for undermining peace, security, and stability in the West Bank. As President Biden and Secretary Blinken have emphasized, we will continue to use all tools at our disposal to promote accountability for violence in the West Bank and around the region.

With that, Matt.

QUESTION: Thank you. So just on that, before we get into other related issues – so is there any immediate action coming from these latest incidents or —

MR MILLER: No sanctions that I can announce today, but it is incidents like this in the past that have led us to impose sanctions; and we certainly will be looking at this one, as we have looked at others, to see first of all if the Government of Israel takes steps to impose accountability, and if they don’t, what we might do on our end to take action.

QUESTION: Okay. And have you – have you made your concerns clear to the Israeli Government, other than you just saying it now?

MR MILLER: We have. Yes, we have.

QUESTION: To whom? And when?

MR MILLER: To the Government of Israel. We had – from our embassy to the government, we made clear our concerns.

QUESTION: From the embassy? Okay. And that was obviously today?

MR MILLER: Earlier today, yeah.

QUESTION: Okay. Can I just go to the aid situation in – or the humanitarian situation in Gaza with the aid? You’ve seen also that – well, I expect you to have seen that Israel has terminated its agreement with UNRWA today following the passage of the legislation which you opposed early last week. One, what’s your reaction to that? And then two, the situation – the humanitarian situation in Gaza has gotten worse rather than better since the letter that Secretaries Blinken and Austin sent. So how do – how does the end of this agreement with UNRWA affect, in your view, the ability of Israel to meet the conditions laid out in the letter?

MR MILLER: So first of all, we’re reviewing the letter to understand whether there are any immediate implications. We understand that the law doesn’t go into effect for 90 days. If this letter means something happening more immediate than 90 days, which would be – this happened fast a week ago, so something like 83 days from now – that’s something we want to understand and we would want to take into account. But we’re endeavoring now to learn exactly what the implication – if any – of that letter is, separate and apart from the legislation that’s already passed and has a 90-day timetable on it.

We, as you note out, were quite – or as you noted – were quite clear that we oppose that legislation and we have serious concerns about the implications of it being fully implemented, as well as our concerns about the underlying humanitarian situation in Gaza even before Israel passed this legislation that relates to the inability of a sufficient number of trucks to get into Gaza, and the inability of humanitarian workers, for a variety of reasons, to be able to deliver that aid to places inside Gaza to the people that need it.

So we have been engaged with the Government of Israel on this since long before we sent the letter, but really about a number of steps that we think they need to take since the Secretary and Secretary of Defense Austin sent that letter on October 14th. The Secretary talked to the minister of strategic affairs on Friday, Ron Dermer, about the – where we stand. I expect that he will talk to further Israeli officials later today about what steps they have already taken, what more they can do. They have told us at various stages that there are a number of steps that they have in process that they haven’t completed yet. We’re paying close attention to that, and we’ll pay close attention to that over the coming days.

QUESTION: All right. Well, on a scale of one to 10, or on any scale that you would like, how has – how have they complied or not complied —

MR MILLER: So —

QUESTION: — with the requests – or demands, frankly – that were in the letter?

MR MILLER: Let me – let me do it on a pass/fail instead of trying to give a grade, and that on a pass/fail basis they have —

QUESTION: Well, that is a grade. Pass/fail is a grade.

MR MILLER: — I mean a letter grade, a percentage grade, a pass/fail – and that as of today, the situation has not significantly turned around. We have seen an increase in some —

QUESTION: All right.

MR MILLER: — measurements. We’ve seen an increase in the number of crossings that are open. But just if you look at the stipulated recommendations in the letter, those have not been met at this point.

QUESTION: So that’s a fail?

MR MILLER: We are not at the end of the period yet. They have not – they have not – if you look at the – what we ultimately judge —

QUESTION: I get it.

MR MILLER: Let me – what we ultimately judge on, which is the results on the ground, the results are not good enough today.

QUESTION: Right, so that’s a fail, right?

MR MILLER: They certainly – they certainly do not have a passing grade. They have failed – I said they have failed to implement all of the things that we recommended in that letter. Now, that said, we are not at the end of the 30-day period and we are – we are in —

QUESTION: Okay, so it’s a fail but you’re not ready to give them an F.

MR MILLER: It’s not the end – it’s not the end of the semester. (Laughter.) You don’t give out – you don’t hand out grades in the middle – in the middle.

QUESTION: Okay. Well, I suspect that the levity is a little bit inappropriate.

MR MILLER: No, you’re – well, you’re – I mean —

QUESTION: I mean, it’s – but look, you guys say they haven’t done enough, so it’s a fail at this point.

MR MILLER: We are not – we are not at the end of where we are able to make an assessment. But I can tell you the situation has not been good enough for some time, and the situation has not improved sufficiently in the 21, 22 days, whatever it is since we sent that letter.

QUESTION: Okay.

MR MILLER: There are – is still a week or so to go until we reach the end of the period, but there is much more that we need to see them do.

QUESTION: Thank you.

QUESTION: Yeah, thanks, Matt. I’m not going to grade you, but – (laughter) – is there any scenario that you could see the possibility of distributing aid to Gaza without UNRWA?

MR MILLER: So right now there is no other way to distribute aid in sufficient form, and that’s why the Secretary made clear in the letter that we were opposed to the legislation because UNRWA plays a critical role. Now, there are other humanitarian organizations that operate inside Gaza that are delivering aid; there are other UN agencies that are operating inside Gaza. But we see UNRWA as continuing to play a critical role. And I should note, while for very obvious reasons the focus is on the work that they do in Gaza, they play a critical role in the West Bank; they play a critical role in Lebanon; they play a critical role in other places throughout the region that we don’t want to see end either.

QUESTION: Okay. So you agree that UNRWA plays – and you said it – a crucial role in —

MR MILLER: Absolutely, yeah.

QUESTION: So is there any scenario where you would call upon Israel to not implement this law, I mean firmly calling on them not —

MR MILLER: So we don’t – now, so we do not want to see the law implemented. Now, that said, I don’t know whether that’s possible under Israeli law, right?

QUESTION: Yeah.

MR MILLER: There is a law that has been passed by the Knesset. I can’t give you an opinion about what their legal options are. I know we’ve seen reports that there may be legal challenges to the law that could see its effect being delayed. But as to what options the government has under legal authority, it’s not something I can speak to.

QUESTION: Okay.

MR MILLER: But certainly we are opposed to the passage of the law in the first place.

QUESTION: Yeah. And so if Israeli law has it that after this 90-day date they don’t have a choice but to forbid working with UNRWA, what happens then?

MR MILLER: Well, they don’t have a choice, but they wouldn’t have a choice – I mean, if that’s true, they wouldn’t have a choice because of a law that they themselves passed.

QUESTION: No, exactly. Yeah.

MR MILLER: So —

QUESTION: So where does that leave you? And what —

MR MILLER: So I’m not going to forecast where we’re going to be in the 87 – 83 days or whatever it is until this law is implemented. We’ve made quite clear to them what our concerns are and we’re going to continue to engage with them about those concerns.

QUESTION: Matt, on the letter and what may or may not U.S. would do next week, should we expect action from the U.S. Government if the picture next week is similar or worse on the humanitarian situation on the day that —

MR MILLER: I don’t want to —

QUESTION: — the 30 days?

MR MILLER: I don’t want to forecast in any way what it is that we’ll do at the end of those 30 days.

QUESTION: But, I mean, you just said based on the three weeks, since the three weeks that you sent the letter, things have not significantly turned around, and there is one more week to go – which, by the way, is a time period, is a grace period that you guys have chosen to give to them; there is no grace period in the law.

MR MILLER: It’s not – I would not describe it as a grace period. We’ve talked about this before. There were a number of things that are not light switches, that you cannot —

QUESTION: Sure.

MR MILLER: — policy recommendations that we have that you cannot make happen overnight. So it’s not a grade period.

QUESTION: Sure. So can the U.S. Government commit to taking action at the end of 30 days if the picture is as dire as today?

MR MILLER: I am not going to tell you – I cannot predict to you what we will or will not do at the end of the 30 days. I do not know what the factual situation that we will face in that period will be. What I can tell you we will do is we will follow the law. The way we have followed the law to date, we will continue to follow the law.

QUESTION: Right. And on what Israel is doing in northern Gaza, they say Hamas has regrouped in this area and that’s why their military and tanks are back there. I’m wondering what is the U.S. assessment. Is that also the U.S. assessment, that this is the case and this is necessary military action?

MR MILLER: I don’t have a military assessment to offer from here. We know that there are Hamas fighters that continue to operate in northern Gaza. The Israelis can speak to what their own assessments are as to what it is that they are targeting in their operations in the north.

QUESTION: Is the kind of military campaign that they’ve been conducting in northern Gaza for the past three to four weeks, is that acceptable to the United States?

MR MILLER: We have concerns about specific actions we’re seen. You saw me speak last week to the concerns we had about a building that they took down in which 25 children were killed and scores of other civilians were killed. We have great concern about the civilian harm that we saw in that strike and the civilian harm that we’ve seen in general in operations in northern Gaza, in the same way we have concerns about the fact that humanitarian assistance is not getting into everywhere in Gaza. We’ve been quite clear with Israel that we believe they have an obligation to get humanitarian assistance in.

Ultimately, what we want to do is see the war end, and that’s what we’re trying to bring about is an end to the war that stops the fighting in northern Gaza, that stops the fighting elsewhere in Gaza, that brings the hostages home, and ultimately lets Palestinians start to rebuild their lives, rebuild their communities.

QUESTION: Right, sure. But that has proven to be very elusive, as you know as well. And in the meantime, this military campaign is still continuing. So I’m wondering, are – is the United States Government telling the Israelis to wrap this up even before a ceasefire negotiation? Because I mean —

MR MILLER: So —

QUESTION: — it’s just going to be really difficult to achieve that.

MR MILLER: So we want to see an end to the war. But the part of the question that I’m struggling with, it’s kind of the same thing I struggle a lot of times with when I get this question. There are two sides to a war. Right? It is not just Israel that is fighting a war here. Hamas is also fighting a war. And Hamas – and by the way, you know that Hamas started this war; we’ve been through this history many times. Hamas fighters continue to shoot, continue to target, continue to launch rockets at Israeli forces.

So we want to see the end of the war, but it is not a unilateral decision by one of the parties. We want to see the war end in a way that’s durable, where you have an agreement of both parties to end the conflict.

QUESTION: Right. But I guess the reason that I’m asking you is because the U.S. is providing much of the weaponry to Israel. So I am wondering if this particular military strategy – which seems to be imposing a siege, during which the humanitarian aid has dropped significantly; there has been a lot of civilian casualties – is this military strategy acceptable to the United States? And how long more will you – like, will you let it continue?

MR MILLER: So we have great concerns about the humanitarian toll in northern Gaza. And as to the question of how much longer it will continue, we want to see the war end now. We want to see an end to the war. And that’s what we’re trying to accomplish.

QUESTION: Thank you. You mentioned the building that obviously the United States is very concerned about. Everybody is concerned about that the incident last week. It’s one of many incidents that you say the U.S. flags with Israel. And you also say that Israel can speak to its own actions. And on what you’ve said to Humeyra, when you say Hamas continues to fire rockets and missiles, how do you square that with also saying that Israel has achieved its – has achieved its objective in Gaza? Are you saying it’s now gotten worse, to the point where they haven’t achieved their objective?

MR MILLER: No.

QUESTION: And then I have – on the building specifically –

MR MILLER: Let me answer that one first and then go to the second one. So no, absolutely not. What we have said is that they have achieved a number of strategic objectives. And if you look at the way – you’ve heard the Secretary speak to this – and the way the Israeli officials speak to this, one of the overriding strategic objectives was to ensure that Hamas could no longer launch military operations like we saw on October 7th, with that level of scale, that level of harm. And they have taken a tremendous action to degrade Hamas’s military capabilities, to wipe out a number of their commands, to significantly degrade their arsenal, to significantly degrade their fighters. We have never said that Israel would be able to kill or capture every Hamas fighter. That’s an —

QUESTION: So I guess my —

MR MILLER: I have to say that’s an elusive goal and an unachievable goal. So the strategic goal that we have always believed was attainable was to degrade them sufficiently so they couldn’t repeat October 7th.

The other strategic goal that you heard the Secretary speak to, you heard me speak to, and the President as well, of course, is to bring to justice the leader of Hamas who is responsible for the attacks on October 7th. And they, of course, did that as well.

They do have other remaining strategic objectives, the most important remaining one being bring home the hostages. But we have been, I think, pretty open about our concerns that Israel cannot afford, for many reasons – economically, diplomatically, in relation to its standing in the world – to just continue to fight a perpetual conflict in Gaza.

QUESTION: Right. So that was just me specifically mentioning about the rockets, whether – the fact that they can continue to fire rockets. Does that then mean that they’ve basically gone back to not having achieved their strategic goal? But I hear you on the other thing.

MR MILLER: No – yeah, yeah. They’ve their overall strategic goal. We think to get to a point that is a long-term – that’s long term sustainable —

QUESTION: Right.

MR MILLER: — you have to have a political path forward.

QUESTION: Okay. And then on the incident of the building collapsing last week, I think in which – I think the number was 20; I don’t know if that number’s changed, but many children were killed. We’ve had sources in Gaza that have told us that they believe that that strike was a retaliation for some IDF soldiers that were killed in Jabalia. I was wondering if you had heard anything to that effect or if that is something you have —

MR MILLER: No. We have been in communication with the Government of Israel about this strike going back to the day on which it occurred. We have not yet received an official explanation for what it is that they were trying to accomplish and what it is that happened. We’ve seen the same reports, I think, some of you have about them possibly trying to target a single militant who was on the roof of that building. I can’t speak to whether that’s accurate or not.

Whatever it was that they were trying to accomplish, something clearly went horribly wrong when they have brought down a building and killed two dozen children and scores of other civilians, especially when you look at where we are in the war, that we are a year in, that we are at a place when they have achieved a number of their strategic objectives. Something is going terribly wrong when you’re continuing to have that level of civilian casualties.

QUESTION: Okay. And also, I know that you’ve – there’s – we’re obviously all concerned about northern Gaza, but also we’ve got sources in Gaza who are saying the situation with food shortages is dire across the strip. There are families that, as we know, are eating bread and olive oil and that’s it. Children aren’t getting milk, eggs, no protein for months already – not just affecting – obviously it’s dire in certain parts of Gaza. But to that point, like, is this something that you are – can you give us an idea on, like, when you’re talking to the Israelis about the daily situation with the food shortage, is this something you’re consistently on their backs about? Because especially for this ––

MR MILLER: So I don’t think I have to read out any private diplomatic conversations —

QUESTION: Okay.

MR MILLER: — to tell you how concerned we are about the situation and to point you to the fact that we have raised that concern in quite candid terms with them. All you have to do is look at the letter the Secretary sent, where he made clear that the level of humanitarian assistance had gone down to unacceptable levels and needed to change. And that is the consistent message that we deliver in the private conversations. That’s the message that the Secretary delivered in his conversation with Ron Dermer on Friday. It’s the message he’ll deliver to other Israeli officials in the coming hours.

QUESTION: And just lastly because everyone’s asking about whether there’s been improvement since that letter was sent, more specifically, has the U.S. seen any more of a decline in the food situation over the last week or so? Is that something that —

MR MILLER: So I can’t give you an assessment on the food situation. We have seen different routes open, and there were days when an increased number of trucks went in. For the actual number of trucks per day, I don’t have an assessment standing here. It’s all public information; you can look at it from the United Nations and compare the number of trucks that go in one week versus the previous week versus a month ago or two or three months ago.

But again, that is only one of the metrics that’s important here. It’s not just a question of trucks getting to the crossings. The trucks have to then continue to be able to distribute aid to civilians inside Gaza, and there have been significant impediments to that delivery happening as well.

Said.

QUESTION: And very quickly on the settler violence. Now, if there are the settlers who committed violence that have U.S. citizenship, could you be able to demand that they be extradited?

MR MILLER: That’s a question you’d have to put to the Department of Justice, Said.

QUESTION: Okay. But as far as, let’s say, whatever tradition and so on —

MR MILLER: That’s a —

QUESTION: — that they’re attacked —

MR MILLER: It’s a Department of Justice question, not a State Department question.

QUESTION: All right, okay, I’ll move on. Now, you also said something about UNRWA. We’ve talked about UNRWA. Well, it seems that the Israelis are gunning after other agencies, like OCHA and others and so on. And they probably target them much like they targeted UNRWA. So it seems that they are —

MR MILLER: I’m not questioning it. I just – I’ve missed whatever report it is you’re referring to.

QUESTION: Well, okay, all right. Well, OCHA is basically – the spokesman for OCHA —

MR MILLER: Yeah, yeah, I know who they are, but I don’t know what report of Israeli targeting you’re referring to.

QUESTION: But it seems like it’s not only UNRWA, but almost any other agency that could possibly provide the Palestinians with what UNRWA was providing, is being targeted. So it’s not just one thing. Do you believe —

MR MILLER: Well, Said, look – Said, before – hold on. Before you go to the question, is there a specific instance you want to reference that I can respond to?

QUESTION: Yes. I mean, just most recently they disallowed the representative of OCHA from visiting the West Bank and other places. So it’s – I mean, that’s what they keep saying. They say OCHA is also meddling in their affairs and so on, they are giving cover to Palestinian activists, and all kinds of things. My question is the following: Would, in the 90 days – they have 90 days before implementing the law against UNRWA – would the United States lean on Israel to rescind its decision?

MR MILLER: Of course we want them – to see them rescind the decision. We wanted them to not pass it in the first place.

QUESTION: Right.

MR MILLER: Now, I don’t really have any illusions, if you look at the politics of the Knesset, that that’s a likely step that they’re going to take, if you look at the number of votes by which it passed. But we have great concerns about the passage of the legislation and its implementation.

QUESTION: Okay. But the U.S. does not have any leverage to impose on Israel or to say, look, if you do this we will do this?

MR MILLER: We made – if you —

QUESTION: I mean, it’s just —

MR MILLER: So, Said, I know you were here last week and —

QUESTION: Right.

MR MILLER: Hold on – and got my answers to the question about this.

QUESTION: Right.

MR MILLER: Where I referred – I pointed out that in the Secretary’s letter, we made clear that there are potential legal and policy implications for the implementation of this legislation.

QUESTION: Yeah, we’re talking about UNRWA because UNRWA has been there for the better part of this conflict and all throughout. And in fact, it was a Western thing, the Americans and Europeans that said we should have this organization. We know that probably 170 countries or even more, any countries, support UNRWA. So you’re telling me that Israelis basically can flaunt the whole world and say, well, we’ll do whatever we want because we have the backing of the United States?

MR MILLER: No, Israel can make decisions that any sovereign country can make, and the United States can do the same, as can other countries.

QUESTION: Okay, let me just ask you a couple more questions on the hospital situation. There was extensive reporting yesterday by Associated Press on the fact that Israeli claims about the hospitals, about many of the hospitals, that they were actually a place where fighters hid and so on, turned about to be false. So hasn’t the time come for the United States to say hospitals – that’s it. Don’t bomb the hospitals, don’t do this to the hospitals, allow some – a modicum of medical care to these Palestinians that need it?

MR MILLER: We absolutely do not want to see hospitals targeted. We also don’t want to see Hamas take refuge inside hospitals. And I will tell you, you have seen us release our own intelligence where we’ve said that we have seen evidence, at least in one hospital, where Hamas was hiding underneath a hospital and was deploying its fighters underneath a hospital. So absolutely we want to see hospitals protected, and one of the ways to ensure they are protected would be for Hamas to stop taking refuge inside them.

QUESTION: All right, but this is a recurring story. I mean, Israel could claim forever that there are Hamas fighters, that there are —

MR MILLER: I’m not – so, Said, just to be clear, I’m not talking about an Israeli claim. We ourselves have seen evidence of Hamas building tunnels under hospitals and hiding inside hospitals.

QUESTION: Okay. All right. So we saw this with the Shifa hospital, and it was an ancient tunnel, but that’s not the point.

MR MILLER: That’s not – that is not – that is not our assessment, Said.

QUESTION: Okay, that’s fine. But I’m saying that has been bombed and bombed and bombed again.

MR MILLER: I’m glad you think it’s fine. I’m telling you that was our assessment as a factual matter.

QUESTION: That’s okay. All right. But this has been – this was bombed and bombed and bombed again. I mean, this could continue. It’s like déjà vu all over again.

MR MILLER: Which is why we are trying to end the war.

QUESTION: Okay.

MR MILLER: And get to – and get to lasting peace and security and stability for Israelis and Palestinians.

QUESTION: Okay. Well, that – okay, that takes me to my last question. The Israelis are saying that clearing northern Gaza of Hamas fighters will take another six months. Does that mean that this war will go on for another six months and you will actually support that?

MR MILLER: I cannot make any predictions about how this war will proceed, but I can tell you what we are trying to bring about, Said, which is an end to the war as soon as possible.

Go ahead, then I’ll come back – just stay in the region for now.

QUESTION: Okay, thank you. On Iran. Over the weekend, the Iran Supreme Leader Khamenei said that Israel and the U.S. should anticipate a crushing blow, and today Wall Street Journal had a story saying that Tehran’s planning a complex response involving more powerful warheads and they’re going to use regular army and IRGC, citing Iranian diplomats. So my question is: What is the U.S. message to the Iranian supreme leader? I mean, are they getting it? And what is the U.S. doing to discourage the Islamic Republic from attacking again? And lastly, what is the U.S. preparation to counter such attack?

MR MILLER: So our message to the supreme leader is the same as the message that you heard us say last week, which is it should not respond further. It should not escalate the situation further. And if it chooses to do so, we will support Israel in defending itself.

Nike.

MR MILLER: Sure.

QUESTION: So EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, held talks with his South Korean counterpart on Monday. Would you like to provide a general comment? Does the U.S. usually get a debrief afterwards?

MR MILLER: We often do in these cases. There’s not one that I’m – if we have at this point, it hasn’t made its way to me. I don’t have any comment other than that obviously we support engagement by two of our significant allies.

QUESTION: And can you talk about the upcoming consultation between U.S. and its allies? Is it fair to expect a trilateral between the United States, Japan, and ROK on the sideline of next week’s APEC?

MR MILLER: I don’t have any announcements to make about scheduling today. The Secretary spoke to his South Korean and Japanese counterparts on Thursday in the wake of North Korea’s most recent ballistic missile launch, and we will continue to consult closely with both of those allies of the United States.

QUESTION: Do you have any new report or new development from the newly established Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team?

MR MILLER: Only that we are making positive progress with our partners, but I don’t have any specific updates to share beyond that today.

QUESTION: And then finally, I’m sure you – I’m not sure if you see the tweets that North Koreans’ foreign minister got a warm welcome with flowers.

MR MILLER: I have to admit, I’m not – I have to admit, I’m not following him on Twitter, but —

MR MILLER: Look, so we continue to be greatly concerned about the partnership between North Korea and Russia. You saw the Secretary speak to the fact on Thursday that North Korea has deployed as many as 10,000 troops to Russia and that we were concerned that they would move to the front lines to enter the fight against Ukraine; as the – the Secretary said on Friday, that as many as 8,000 North Korean troops had made their way to Kursk. We now assess that as many as 10,000 have made their way to Kursk and could enter combat in the coming days.

QUESTION: Are they in Kursk already – I mean are they in combat already?

MR MILLER: So I have seen public reporting that they are. I can’t speak to that definitively, but as we have said, we expected that it was likely that they would enter into combat against Ukrainian forces, and if they did, they would be legitimate military targets.

QUESTION: Thanks.

QUESTION: Just to confirm, Matt – 10,000 are actively right now involved into the fighting?

MR MILLER: In Kursk, yes.

QUESTION: In Kursk.

MR MILLER: Yeah, that’s our assessment. It’s our —

QUESTION: Eight thousand to 10,000. Just want to clarify.

MR MILLER: As many as 10,000, yeah.

QUESTION: Okay. Thank you so much.

MR MILLER: Up from when we spoke Thursday when we said as many as 8,000 were there. Now we can see – we assess that as many as 10,000 have made their way to Kursk.

QUESTION: Thank you so much. The Secretary’s statement on the security aid on Friday that he issued – we have seen some slight change there, and please correct me if I’m reading too much into it.

MR MILLER: Probably. Probably.

QUESTION: He’s not saying anymore that – unlike his July 11 and August and September statements, he’s not saying anymore that we will be sending this as soon as possible. He is also saying we will be allocating from the congressionally approved aid as much as possible by the end of the President’s term. You guys usually say all of it.

MR MILLER: It’s – Alex, we’re in a different situation. You may remember that at the end of the fiscal year, we announced a drawdown of all the remaining authority. We did that under – just through a slightly different procedure than we had done previously because we were coming up to the end of the fiscal year, and so we drew down a large number. I don’t remember – it was – I don’t remember what the exact number was, and now we’re spending against that drawdown in the weeks ahead. So that’s why these announcements, just at a technical level, look different than the ones that happened before September 30th.

QUESTION: But can you assure us that they will be deployed as quickly as —

MR MILLER: You should talk to the Pentagon about the deployment of drawdown authority.

MR MILLER: That we have what?

QUESTION: Standing with them, you support them.

MR MILLER: Of course we stand with the people of Georgia.

QUESTION: And is there anything you can do to prove that’s the case in terms of —

MR MILLER: We have made clear that we stand with the people of Georgia. We have made clear that we support their EU ambitions. We have made clear that we support their further integration with their Euro and Atlantic partners. We have put, as you know, under review the – a significant amount of assistance that we provide to the Government of Georgia and have suspended $95 million of that assistance because of steps that we have seen them take. And we will continue to look at whether there are additional measures that would be appropriate; and if so, we won’t hesitate to use them.

QUESTION: And despite congressional calls you still refuse to sanction Ivanishvili and others behind —

MR MILLER: I don’t have any announcements to make about what additional sanctions activities we might take.

MR MILLER: There will be a statement coming from the Secretary this afternoon.

QUESTION: What is your – can you preview the statement —

MR MILLER: I think he will congratulate President Sandu on her election.

QUESTION: And in terms of Russian involvement —

QUESTION: You don’t think it will be exactly the opposite of what the White House statement was, or what —

MR MILLER: (Laughter.) I didn’t want to say that but yeah, I —

QUESTION: (Inaudible) Russian involvement – that was Secretary’s concern. He highlighted that in his previous statement. So what new did you learn and how —

MR MILLER: So we – as you heard him say publicly, we did note that Russia did everything in its power to disrupt the election, to undermine Moldova’s democracy, including through illicit financing, including through vote buying, disinformation, and malicious cyber activities. But the people of Moldova came forward and made their voices heard.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MR MILLER: I don’t have any specific comment on those reported charges, but we support the free press in Bangladesh, as we do around the world.

QUESTION: Thank you. And one of the largest political parties, the Jatiya Party of Bangladesh, a central office was vandalized yesterday and set fire on by the anti-discrimination student organization supported by the interim government. Following the situation, the government imposed Section 144, banning Jatiya Party protest gathering on November 2nd. How does the U.S. State Department view the current efforts by Bangladesh interim governments to marginalize the political parties, including the Jatiya Party, from the political landscape in Bangladesh?

MR MILLER: So we are monitoring reports of protests in Bangladesh. We support freedom of belief and freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association as essential elements of any democracy and the welfare of all persons in Bangladesh, and as I say, around the world.

QUESTION: And – thank you.

MR MILLER: One more.

QUESTION: Finally, what of your assessment of the sedition charges filed against 19 Hindu leaders, including ISKCON leader Chinmoy Prabhu in Bangladesh, and does it view this charge as impacting religious freedom or minority rights in Bangladesh?

MR MILLER: We are aware of the charges, and we encourage a fair and transparent legal process for all individuals.

QUESTION: Thank you so much.

QUESTION: Yeah, yeah, that’s not – that’s not right.

QUESTION: Yeah.

QUESTION: Richard Boucher was – no. No. Jamie Rubin was the spokesman.

QUESTION: Well, just a few months later, Mr. Richard Boucher came.

QUESTION: No.

QUESTION: And he is my friend still this day, and he —

MR MILLER: Do you want me to step off stage for a minute and you guys can handle this? (Laughter.)

QUESTION: I – I don’t know why my name has to come up here.

QUESTION: It’s the last day before election, so let’s make it a little more serious.

MR MILLER: (Laughter.) That’s ironic.

QUESTION: So Mr. Matt – Mr. Matt, last two year – in 25 years, I’ve skipped journalism only for a year and a half when I was in Virginia Hospital Center. So when I came – then I started, and you have been here since most of the time here. Last week, my six-year-old son also came here to ask you a question. Unfortunately, he was taken out. Other journalists’ children have been allowed. Last week, you – my question is last week you had the audacity to say that your administration had nothing to do with the removal of Imran Khan, while you had told my friend – again, my friend Matt – the word “close-ish” about the removal of Imran Khan. Remember that word?

MR MILLER: No, that is – that is not an accurate representation of what I said.

QUESTION: You had said that we had told them, Imran Khan, that your visit to Russia was a disliking and we are —

MR MILLER: I should leave it alone, but you’re not right.

MR MILLER: I – so I – Jalil, I’m not aware of that report, so I can’t comment on it.

QUESTION: But human rights violations I have not brought into your notice on – parliamentarians, abducted senators, abducted lawyers, abducted —

MR MILLER: We have – is – do you have a question, Jalil?

QUESTION: You do not acknowledge that in two years you have completely ignored these things? And today is the last before your election. I want to show this picture to you, how I feel as a journalist.

MR MILLER: All right. Go ahead, behind. Go ahead.

QUESTION: In two years, the way you have treated me and Karim —

MR MILLER: Go ahead behind, if you have a question.

QUESTION: Matt, the other day I went to the White House.

MR MILLER: You know what, this is – we have —

QUESTION: Guess what, they told me – Secret Service told me that, Jalil —

MR MILLER: We – Jalil – Jalil, this is question time, not argument time, in the briefing room.

QUESTION: I have no idea what’s going on from us. From us you are okay, but —

MR MILLER: Go ahead, behind you. Go ahead.

QUESTION: Keep politics on the side. The beauty of this room is the journalists here as well, Matt. You are just (inaudible).

MR MILLER: And I appreciate journalists that show up with questions, not extended arguments. Go ahead.

QUESTION: So respect them (inaudible) I want to tell you the last day of the election.

QUESTION: Respect journalists, please.

MR MILLER: Go ahead with your question. I’m going to respect journalism by calling on a journalist in the room.

QUESTION: Yes, I will shut up.

MR MILLER: Go ahead.

MR MILLER: Sure. So —

QUESTION: So it’s like kind of some game – like, as you supposedly, like, a fair mediator between Palestinian and Israelian, what is your vision for, like, moving this situation, specifically the government itself encouraging these settlers to expand their settlement?

MR MILLER: So it – when it comes to who is responsible for law enforcement operations, it depends in what area of the West Bank it is. I think you – as you well know, in Area A the Palestinian Authority has principal responsibility for law enforcement operations. In Area C, it is the Government of Israel. And so when you saw – when you heard the opening remarks at this briefing today, I made clear that relevant authorities, whether it be in Area A, whether it be in Area C, whether it be anywhere, need to respond to acts of violence no matter the perpetrator and no matter the victim.

Now, when it comes to settlements in Area C, we want to see the Government of Israel do more to prevent settler violence, to crack down on settler violence, and to hold settlers accountable for that violence. And we have also made clear that if we do not see sufficient action from the Government of Israel, we will impose our own actions, as we have on more than two dozen occasions already this year.

QUESTION: Okay. Second question on UNRWA – like, last question on UNRWA. Like, why USA, like, doesn’t voluntarily – like, to take action to, like, send, like, teams or, like, organization or something? Because, like, as Mr. Said said, like, UNRWA is the most strong and, like, well-known about their job, and Israel it seems like not cooperate or, like, not helping for, like, distributing aid, and something like that. Like, why USA doesn’t take an action or, like, doing any practical roles in terms of distributing this aid, specifically in northern Gaza? Because, like, some, like, expertise says it’s, like, kind of fame or kind of like starving. So why USA doesn’t play a real action?

MR MILLER: We have taken significant action to get humanitarian assistance into Gaza. Now, when it comes to that last mile, if you will – the distribution role – we don’t have U.S. Government agencies on the ground implementing aid delivery, but we are facilitating a great amount of aid making its way to Gaza. In fact, the United States is the largest donor of humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people, and we fund a number of the UN agencies who then do that last-mile delivery inside Gaza, and we will continue to do so.

QUESTION: But you don’t fund UNRWA anymore.

MR MILLER: Not UNRWA, but we fund other agencies, is what I was referring to.

With that, we’ll wrap for today. Thanks, everyone.

QUESTION: Thank you.

(The briefing was concluded at 1:57 p.m.)

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