Lloyd Austin: No Evidence Israel Committing Genocide in Gaza

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Tuesday there was no evidence Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians during the Hamas war in Gaza.

Austin, appearing with Defense Comptroller Mike McCord and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. CQ Brown, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee to discuss the president's 2025 budget request for the Pentagon.

Pro-Palestinian protesters interrupted Austin several times while the secretary was reading his opening statement.

During questioning, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., asked Austin whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

"We don't have any evidence of genocide being [committed]," said Austin, before Cotton repeated his question.

"We don't have evidence of that to my knowledge," Austin replied.

Cotton commended Austin for his answer, saying he was "better than [CIA] Director [William] Burns and [National Intelligence] Director [Avril] Haines did … last month at the Intelligence Committee when they dodged that question."

Cotton then said Austin has been accused of "greenlighting genocide" and asked the secretary whether he wanted to respond to such accusations.

"What I would say, Sen. Cotton, from the very beginning, we committed to help assist Israel in defending its territory and its people by providing security assistance," Austin said, "and I would remind everybody that what happened on Oct. 7 was absolutely horrible.

"Numbers of Israeli citizens killed, and then a couple of hundred Israeli citizens taken hostage … American citizens as well."

"So you deny the accusation that you greenlit genocide," Cotton asked.

"I absolutely deny it," Austin said.

The Senate hearing was the first time lawmakers on both sides were able to question the Pentagon's top civilian and military leadership on the administration's Israel strategy following Tel Aviv's deadly strike on World Central Kitchen humanitarian aid workers in Gaza.

The World Central Kitchen strike led to a shift in tone from President Joe Biden on how Israel must protect civilian life in Gaza and drove dozens of House Democrats, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to call on Biden to halt weapons transfers to Israel.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.