LONDON: A senior official in the administration of former US President Joe Biden told Sky News on Monday that he believes Israel has committed war crimes in Gaza.

Former State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said he does not believe genocide is taking place, but it is 鈥渨ithout a doubt true that Israel has committed war crimes,鈥� and Israeli forces are not being held 鈥渁ccountable鈥� for their actions.

鈥淭here are two ways to think about the commission of war crimes,鈥� he told the 鈥淭rump 100鈥� podcast. 鈥淥ne is, if the state has pursued a policy of deliberately committing war crimes or is acting recklessly in a way that aids and abets war crimes. Is the state committing war crimes?

鈥淭hat, I think, is an open question. I think what鈥檚 almost certainly not an open question is that there have been individual incidents that have been war crimes 鈥� where Israeli soldiers, members of the Israeli military, have committed war crimes.鈥�

Miller said there had been internal clashes between senior White House staff about the US stance on the war almost from the beginning of the conflict.

鈥淭here were disagreements all along the way about how to handle policy. Some of those were big disagreements, some of those were little disagreements,鈥� he added.

鈥淭he administration did debate, at times, whether and when to cut off weapons to Israel. You saw us in the spring of 2024 stop the shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel because we didn鈥檛 believe they鈥檇 use those in a way that was appropriate in Gaza.鈥�

He hinted that in particular, there had been tension between Biden and Antony Blinken, his secretary of state, but said: 鈥淚鈥檒l probably wait and let the secretary speak for himself 鈥� but I will say, speaking generally 鈥� it鈥檚 true about every senior official in government that they don鈥檛 win every policy fight that they enter into. And what you do is you make your best case to the president.鈥�

Miller added that Biden鈥檚 staunch military support of Israel was also a source of contention, but that public dissent against it may have also encouraged Hamas.

鈥淭here were debates about whether to suspend other arms deliveries, and you saw at times us hold back certain arms while we negotiated the use of those arms 鈥� But we found ourselves in this really tough position, especially in that time period when it really came to a head 鈥� We were at a place where 鈥� I鈥檓 thinking of the way I can appropriately say this 鈥� the decisions and the thinking of (the) Hamas leadership weren鈥檛 always secret to the US and to our partners.鈥�

He added: 鈥淚t was clear to us in that period that there was a time when our public discussion of withholding weapons from Israel, as well as the protests on college campuses in the US, and the movement of some European countries to recognize the state of Palestine 鈥� appropriate discussions, appropriate decisions, protests are appropriate 鈥� but all of those things together were leading the leadership of Hamas to conclude that they didn鈥檛 need to agree to a ceasefire, they just needed to hold out for a little bit longer and they could get what they always wanted.

鈥淣ow, the thing that I look back on, that I鈥檒l always ask questions of myself about, and I think this is true for others in government, is in that intervening period between the end of May and the middle of January (2025), when thousands of Palestinians were killed, innocent civilians who didn鈥檛 want this war, had nothing to do with it, was there more that we could鈥檝e done to pressure the Israeli government to agree to that ceasefire? I think at times there probably was.鈥�

Biden鈥檚 popularity waned as the 2024 presidential election approached, with the war in Gaza weighing heavily on his polling.

Miller called US President Donald Trump鈥檚 Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, 鈥渁n extremely capable individual,鈥� adding: 鈥淚 know the people in the Biden administration who worked with him during the first negotiations for a Gaza ceasefire thought that he was capable.鈥�

Miller continued: 鈥淚 do think it鈥檚 extremely important that when people sit down with an envoy of the United States, they know that that envoy speaks for the president of the United States, and it鈥檚 very clear that Witkoff has that, and that鈥檚 an extremely valuable asset to bring to the table.鈥�