US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he discussed the need to avoid civilian casualties with Israeli leader Netanyahu.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he discussed “humanitarian pauses” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose forces continue to hammer the Gaza Strip.
After arriving in Israel on Friday, the first stop on a trip to the region, Blinken emphasized U.S. support for Israel but called for measures to protect civilians and allow more aid to Gaza.
“We believe that each of these efforts (to protect Palestinian civilians and increase aid to Gaza) would be facilitated by humanitarian pauses, by arrangements on the ground that increase the security of civilians and allow for more effective and sustained delivery humanitarian aid,” he added. » America’s top diplomat told reporters.
The visit comes as Israeli troops surround Gaza City after several days of intensifying ground operations in the Gaza Strip, where they pledged to dismantle the Palestinian armed group Hamas following a deadly attack on October 7 that, according to Israel has killed more than 1,400 people.
Encounter @IsraeliPM Netanyahu and reiterated U.S. support for Israel’s right to self-defense and reaffirmed our commitment to a two-state solution. pic.twitter.com/dFKgllDqNj
– Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) November 3, 2023
This attack, which resulted in the massacre of civilians, including women and children, was widely condemned by world leaders and international organizations.
But criticism has mounted as Israel has cut off access to food, fuel and electricity to Gaza’s more than 2.3 million residents and razed entire neighborhoods with relentless air raids.
Palestinian authorities said more than 9,227 people, many of them women and children, have been killed by the constant bombardment, combined with limited fuel supplies due to the Israeli siege to overwhelm Gaza’s already fragile health system.
Aid agencies and international groups have warned that a humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding and that Palestinians in the besieged enclave have few options for seeking refuge.
Israel had ordered the population of the northern areas of Gaza to move south, but no corner of the Strip was spared from the attacks.
“I have never been in a situation where we are actually deprived of the vital humanitarian supplies that we need to provide to people,” said Tom White, director of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, adding that most Palestinians in Gaza were surviving. on one or two pieces of bread per day.
Speaking to United Nations members on Friday, UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said there had been “some progress” in negotiations to allow additional fuel to arrive Gaza.
“If we do not pause, we will not be able to meet the needs of the people of Gaza and the Israelis also caught in these conflict zones,” he said.
While the United States continued to pledge its full support for Israel and rejected growing calls for a ceasefire, it began to temper these statements by discussing the need to protect Palestinian civilians and allow aid to Gaza as death toll rises.
Both Blinken and U.S. President Joe Biden have expressed support for a pause in fighting to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid, but Israel has so far firmly rejected those calls.
Netanyahu said there would be no “temporary truce” until Hamas releases the more than 240 people captured on October 7, a group that includes Israeli soldiers and civilians, as well as foreigners.
Blinken said he also told Netanyahu that the United States wants to see Israel take concrete steps to quell growing attacks on Palestinians by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, where 132 Palestinians have been killed by soldiers and Israeli settlers since the beginning of the fighting.