US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said on Tuesday that protecting Palestinian civilians from harm is a moral and strategic necessity, describing the situation in the Gaza Strip, which is subject to Israeli aggression, as a "humanitarian catastrophe."

Austin added at the beginning of his meeting with Israeli Security Minister Yoav Gallant at the Pentagon: “In Gaza today, the number of civilian casualties is very high and the volume of humanitarian aid is very low.”

He added, "Gaza is suffering a humanitarian catastrophe."

Tension in US-Israeli relations

The meeting comes as relations between US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined to their lowest level during the Israeli aggression on Gaza, which entered its 172nd day, and led to the death of 32,414 people and the injury of 74,787 others since the seventh of last October.

The aggression also caused catastrophic humanitarian conditions for 2.3 million Palestinians, amid food and medicine shortages and repeated waves of displacement as a result of Israeli bombing.

Austin's meeting with Gallant came after Netanyahu on Monday canceled a separate visit to Washington for two of his senior aides, who were scheduled to listen to American ideas regarding operational alternatives.

"Genocide" in Gaza

Netanyahu's relations with Biden collapsed due to Washington's decision not to use its veto power against a UN Security Council resolution seeking an immediate ceasefire in Gaza after more than five months of aggression, and in light of the United States abstaining from voting after it obstructed previous attempts to issue a resolution by resorting to Veto power.

Yesterday, Monday, residents of Rafah welcomed the aforementioned Security Council resolution, but they seemed skeptical about the ability of the international community to oblige Israel to implement it.

On the other hand, international calls are being made to prevent the collapse of matters in Gaza as a result of the Israeli aggression, as Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur in the occupied Palestinian territories, confirmed today, Tuesday, that the Israeli military campaign in Gaza amounts to genocide, and called on countries to impose sanctions and an arms embargo on Immediately.