- If they are not protected, it “plays into the hands of Hamas and other terrorist groups.”
- He said breaks were an “important factor” in freeing hostages
- Israel is facing increasing calls to limit the bombing of the Gaza Strip
Secretary of State Antony Blinken publicly called for protecting Palestinian civilians during a visit to Israel on Friday and called for arrangements for “humanitarian pauses” amid the fighting in Gaza.
Blinken spoke in Tel Aviv after meeting with Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu and said he raised the issue of humanitarian pauses. He said the two discussed how to ensure that Hamas did not use such breaks “for its own advantage” and how to combine the break with the release of hostages.
His comments reportedly came from Israeli Defense Minister Gallant told According to him, Israel would not agree to any break that did not include the release of hostages.
“We must do more to protect Palestinian civilians,” Blinken said. He called it the right and legal thing. “If this doesn’t happen, it plays into the hands of Hamas and other terrorist groups,” Blinken said.
“We must do more to protect Palestinian civilians,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday during his trip to Israel
He also called for aid deliveries to Gaza to be accelerated to help people in “urgent need” through no fault of their own. This comes as the Israel Defense Forces and its government face increasing calls, including from Senate Democrats, to exercise restraint as they unleash devastating airstrikes on Gaza in what they say is an attempt to eliminate Hamas’ power structure.
Blinken’s words of warning came during a press event where he also recalled the killing of 1,400 Israelis following the Hamas terrorist attack.
“The brutality of the massacre has faded so quickly from the memories of so many people. But not in Israel and not in America,” he said.
Blinken said that during his visit he was leaked additional videos from security cameras and even from Hamas attackers that showed some of the brutality committed against Israeli civilians during the attack. On his first visit to Israel after the Oct. 7 attack, Blinken had an emotional meeting with survivors of the attack and friends and family members of the victims.
Blinken met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu (r.) again in Tel Aviv.
During his visit, Blinken also met Israeli President Isaac Herzog
Blinken says he and Netanyahu discussed the need to protect civilians in the Gaza Strip
Blinken repeatedly cited the benefit of “humanitarian pauses” in efforts to repatriate American and other Israeli and foreign nationals seized by Hamas.
“A humanitarian pause could help these efforts,” he said.
“This is a very important piece,” he said.
Blinken again defended Israel’s “right and even duty” to defend itself. But he repeatedly pointed to the “commandments” to “do everything possible to protect the civilian population.”
It came after two repeated attacks by the Israel Defense Forces on the Jabalya refugee camp.
He also calls for curbing violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, which is controlled by the Palestinian Authority.
He said he had heard a “clear commitment” to address extremist behavior in the West Bank.
And Blinken reiterated President Biden’s warnings against anyone seeking to expand the conflict, amid fears that Hezbollah could open a second front with Israel amid repeated rocket fire with Israeli forces.
“We firmly believe that no second or third front will be opened in this conflict,” Blinken said, mentioning that the US had deployed two aircraft carrier strike groups to the region.
It came on a day when Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s secretary-general, made his first comments since the attack as he feared Israel could face an expanded war.
He said the fight between Israel and Hamas had “spread to more than one front” and called the brutal attack inside Israel a “glorious jihad operation.”
Antony Blinken says ‘we must do more to protect Palestinian civilians’ after meeting Netanyahu and top officials in Israel, saying ‘humanitarian pause’ needed to get hostages out of Gaza to get out