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Israel needs to \u201cdistinguish between terrorists and innocent civilians and to protect the lives of innocent civilians,\u201d U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan<\/strong> said Sunday of Israel\u2019s ongoing war against Hamas.<\/p>\n Sullivan\u2019s comments<\/a> to CBS News\u2019s Margaret Brennan<\/strong> came as the war reached a new stage this weekend, as Israel expanded its ground forces in Gaza while ratcheting up its aerial bombardment of the territory.<\/p>\n In multiple U.S. television interviews on Sunday morning, Sullivan said the U.S. is continuing to ask \u201chard questions\u201d of Israel as it conducts its military operations, which so far have killed<\/a> over 7,000 Palestinians, including nearly 3,000 children, according to the Gazan health ministry, which Hamas controls. Sullivan called the deaths of Palestinian civilians a \u201ctragedy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEvery hour, every day of this military operation, the IDF [Israel Defense Forces], the Israeli government should be taking every possible means available to them to distinguish between Hamas terrorists who are legitimate military targets and civilians who are not,\u201d Sullivan said on CNN. He added that President Joe Biden<\/strong> will reiterate this position in a call Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Sullivan also said Sunday that Netanyahu must \u201crein in\u201d extremist Jewish settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where violence against Palestinians has erupted in the three weeks since the October 7 Hamas attack, in which more than 1,400 Israelis were killed. \u201cIt is totally unacceptable to have extremist settler violence against innocent people in the West Bank,\u201d Sullivan said<\/a>. Last week, President Biden described<\/a> the settler attacks as \u201cpouring gasoline on the fire\u201d of the conflict.<\/p>\n But Sullivan also said that when it comes to Israel\u2019s specific military milestones in the unfolding conflict in Gaza, \u201cthat is something that ultimately is up to Israel. This is their military operation [and] they will make that decision.\u201d<\/p>\n In response to Sullivan\u2019s call for \u201chumanitarian pauses\u201d in the conflict to get hostages out of Gaza, Brennan noted that the U.S. was one of just 14 countries<\/a> that voted on Friday against a U.N. resolution calling for an \u201cimmediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce\u201d between the IDF and Hamas militants.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat a lot of people are calling for is just a stop to Israeli military action against terrorists, period. Just stop, no more. \u2018Israel cannot go after terrorists who conducted this largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust,\u2019\u201d Sullivan responded. \u201cWe have taken the position that Israel has a right to defend itself against terrorist attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere are a lot of complicated realities,\u201d he added. \u201cA humanitarian pause would be a good thing to get hostages out, but you can bet that Hamas will try to use that time to their advantage as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Sullivan also dismissed calls for a ceasefire, which grew louder this weekend when both Pope Francis<\/strong> and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Gutierrez<\/strong> issued demands for what the latter called<\/a> \u201can immediate humanitarian ceasefire,\u201d citing a \u201chumanitarian catastrophe\u201d that is \u201cunfolding in front of our eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFrom the point of view of a ceasefire, what Israel suffered on October 7 was the equivalent of fifteen 9\/11s,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cAfter 9\/11, if the terrorists had simply said, \u2018We want a ceasefire,\u2019 I don\u2019t think the United States would have said, \u2018We\u2019re gonna stop going after terrorists.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n