Don't Know that Israel Bombed a School: John Kerry to NDTV

New Delhi: When asked if Israel is using "disproportionate force" in Gaza, US Secretary of State John Kerry today told NDTV, "This is not the time for the Secretary of State of United States to start making those judgments."

Mr Kerry, who was speaking exclusively to NDTV's Prannoy Roy in Delhi, also said that he does not know whether Israel is responsible for bombing a school being run by a UN agency as a shelter in Gaza. That widely-condemned attack, at dawn on Wednesday, left 15 Palestinians dead and more than 100 injured. The UN has held Israel responsible for the assault.

"What we are trying to do is stop the violence, get the people to the table and negotiate the real solution that once and for all ends this violence going forward," said Mr Kerry, adding, "nobody is working harder than I" towards a ceasefire.

Here is the transcript of Mr Kerry's conversation with Prannoy Roy on the war in Gaza.

NDTV: Gaza... now Israel is your friend or close ally but what's been called disproportionate use of force, does that worry you? Does that make you... children being killed... hundreds of children, schools being bombed, don't you tell them, "hey friend, you are doing self-damage and doing us damage too", don't you feel this is disproportionate use of force?

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John Kerry: What worries me is that an organization that has been labelled and appropriately identified internationally as a terrorist organization started firing rockets indiscriminately against another country, and no country can sit there and live with tunnels being dug under its border out of which jump people who are carrying handcuffs and tranquilizer drugs in order to kidnap their citizens and take them back and hold them for ransom...

NDTV: That's not -

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John Kerry: No country can support that so

NDTV: The disproportionate response. Do you feel that it is disproportionate?

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John Kerry: Look, it is a terrible thing when any civilian is killed in anywhere and I understand, I have been in war, I know what happens when civilians get killed. It's horrible, it's absolutely horrible, and there is nobody in Israel that doesn't hate the fact that innocent civilians are caught in this crossfire... but unfortunately, Hamas has a record of also putting civilians in harm's way, purposely as part of their effort, now look I don't want to get caught but what's important thing here is...

NDTV: When you are bombing a school, you are not putting a citizen in the way.

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John Kerry: I don't know who did that... this is a terrible situation where we clearly want a ceasefire, nobody has been working harder than I to try to find a way towards a ceasefire so that we can actually negotiate the very complicated, long-standing differences and issues that are at stake here. The Palestinians want and deserve a country and we support a two-state solution, President Obama supports it, we support it. We are working towards that but the place to work towards is not on a battle field, it is at the negotiating table, that's where we want to go.

NDTV: But excessive force... is it damaging your course?

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John Kerry: Well, look

NDTV: No, yes or no on that. Excessive force?

John Kerry: I don't know if it's been excessive or not, I can't make that judgment because I don't know what happened. There are allegations of people firing their own rockets and accidentally hitting people, and then blaming it on the other side. Or there are allegations of people being purposefully put in harm's way. This is not the time for the Secretary of State of United States to start making those judgments. What we are trying to do is stop the violence, get the people to the table and negotiate the real solution that once and for all ends this violence going forward.