Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told NBC News that “protecting the civilian population is a strategic imperative” in the Gaza Strip, an implicit criticism of Israel’s conduct of the war, which has seen a skyrocketing death toll and a humanitarian crisis that has brought the civilian population to the brink of starvation.

Austin made the comments in an interview Thursday with NBC News’ “Nightly News with Lester Holt,” following a D-Day commemoration ceremony at the Normandy American Cemetery…