Carol E. Lee is an NBC News correspondent.
WASHINGTON — In a private phone call Tuesday, President Joe Biden urged Israel’s prime minister to minimize civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip as Israel sets out to destroy Hamas in reprisal for the deadliest attack the country suffered in the last 50 years, two Biden administration officials and one former official told NBC News.
' He added, 'We also discussed how democracies like Israel and the United States are stronger and more secure when we act according to the rule of law. Terrorists purposefully target civilians, kill them. We uphold the laws of war — the law of war. It matters.' International laws of war call for avoiding the indiscriminate killing of civilians and proportionality. American presidents have played a restraining role in the past.
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