TEHRAN- U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has admitted the Israeli military has killed more than 25,000 women and children since October 7.

Speaking before a House committee hearing on Thursday, Austin was asked how many Palestinian women and children hav been killed by the Israeli military since October 7. 

“It is over 25,000” the Pentagon chief replied. 

Questioned further by the U.S. Representative from California’s 17th congressional district, Ro Khana, that “the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights warned that any transfer of weapons or ammunition to Israel violates international law, how many munitions has the United States given Israel since the beginning of the war?.” 

Austin, aware that the hearing was being broadcast live across the United States, replied, “I don’t have that number at my finger tips”. 

If Austin had revealed the true extent of U.S.-made weapons being shipped to the Israeli regime during the war, he would also be acknowledging America’s complicity in the Israeli massacre of “over 25,000” Palestinian women and children. 

Grilled again if the U.S. would end the delivery of arms to the Israeli military considering the grave warnings by the United Nations over the regime’s indiscriminate use of weapons against civilians are violating international law, Austin diverted his answers without providing a simple yes or no response. 

This again reflects Washington’s unwavering commitment to ensure the regime continues its genocidal war on Gaza, with America’s support. 

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has been shipping tens of thousands of munitions for the Israeli military to use against civilians in Gaza. 

For nearly five months now, there has been a vast number of Israeli massacres in the besieged territory (many committed with U.S.-made weapons), which Tel Aviv has tried to desperately pin the blame on Hamas without providing a shred of evidence. 

When Israeli officials are questioned on TV interviews about the tragic Palestinian civilian death toll, they dispute the numbers, claiming the regime’s military has killed between 7,000 and 12,000 Hamas fighters (depending on which official is speaking) and the regime does not target civilians. 

When challenged on the accuracy of the Israeli figures, which do not add up, Israeli officials have struggled to convince TV and radio hosts. 

They will find it more difficult to do so now after Tel Aviv’s strongest ally, the U.S., acknowledged more than 25,000 women and children have been massacred. 

The Palestinian health ministry says the death toll in Gaza has exceeded 30,000 people. The UN says the numbers are reliable, and the ministry’s figures have been historically accurate. 

With Austin acknowledging the fatalities of 25,000 Palestinian women and children that would leave some 5,000 men dead.  

Analysts say it would be absurd to conclude that all these 5,000 men are Hamas fighters. It would be very logical to assume that thousands of them are non-combatant male civilians, including elderly men. 

This raises another key question over how many Hamas fighters the Israeli military has killed in combat. 

All the indications are that this number is very low. 

Austin’s admission backs up a growing argument among many experts and world leaders who say the regime is waging a war against women and children. 

Most notably over the past week, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has repeatedly maintained the Israeli war on Gaza is a genocidal campaign by an army armed-to-the-teeth against civilians, rather than combat between soldiers versus soldiers. 

In his latest remarks, President Lula again said, “It is a genocide. Thousands of children are dead, and thousands are missing. Soldiers are not dying. Women and children are dying at the hospital,” he pointed out at an event in Rio de Janeiro, adding, “If that’s not genocide, I don’t know what genocide is.” 

Many experts have said the Israeli military has been instructed to target women and children in a bid to pressure Hamas to surrender power as Israeli troops are incapable of killing Palestinian resistance fighters who are putting up a fierce battle against Israeli ground forces. 

Others argue the Israeli military strategy has been to kill a significantly large number of civilians, in particular women and children, as a form of revenge against the Palestinians for the al-Aqsa Storm Operation on October 7, 2023. 

It has been widely documented that half of the air-to-ground munitions dropped on Gaza by the Israeli military have been unguided 2000-pound “dumb bombs”, which have no precision whatsoever. 

If Austin’s admission has made anything else abundantly clear, it is that the Israeli military is nowhere close to its stated goal of defeating Hamas.