The White House believes Israel is “making an effort” to minimise civilian deaths in Gaza, a senior official has said, as international concern mounted over the numbers killed in the resumed conflict with Hamas, AFP reports.

Speaking on the US Sunday talk shows, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby also insisted that US intelligence was unaware of any secret, advanced Hamas blueprint for its brutal October 7 attack on Israel that triggered the conflict.

The New York Times reported last week that Israeli authorities had obtained such a document a year before the attack occurred.

According to Hamas, more than 15,500 people have been killed in Gaza since the beginning of the conflict, but Kirby told ABC’s “This Week” that Israel had responded to US appeals to protect civilians.

“We believe they have been receptive to our messages here of trying to minimalize civilian casualties,” he said, including by publishing online a map of places where Gazans could go to find safety.

“There’s not a whole lot of modern militaries that would do that… to telegraph their punches in that way. So they are making an effort.” His comments came as Israel has resumed its intensive air and ground campaign following a week-long truce.

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