Blinken says ‘we need to do more’ to protect Palestinian civilians

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday “we need to do more” to protect civilians in Gaza after deadly Israeli strikes have killed around 9,000 people since early October, when Israel launched a major war against Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Blinken told reporters at a press conference in Tel Aviv that the U.S. was committed to working with Israel to minimize civilian deaths, describing how he has been moved by photos of suffering in Gaza.

“I’ve seen images to of Palestinian children, young boys and girls pulled from the wreckage of buildings,” Blinken said. “When I see that, when I look into their eyes, through the TV screen, I see my own children.”

But Blinken also recounted the horrors of Oct. 7, when Hamas militants killed 1,400 people in Israel, saying it was “shocking” that the slaughter had “receded so quickly in the memories of so many.”

Amid Israel’s retaliatory attacks, Blinken said Hamas uses civilians “monstrously” as human shields and does not care “one iota” about its people.

“But civilians should not suffer the consequences for its inhumanity and its brutality,” the secretary of state said.

Blinken said the U.S. has been working with Israel to minimize civilian deaths and that Washington has been “clear” that it is important for Israel to conduct its campaign to defeat Hamas by following the laws of war.

“It’s the right and lawful thing to do. It matters because failure to do so plays into the hands of Hamas and other terror groups,” Blinken said. “There will be no partners for peace if they’re consumed by humanitarian catastrophe, and alienated by any perceived indifference to their plight. This is what binds us as human beings.”

The comments come after Israel struck a Palestinian refugee camp in the city of Jabalia in northern Gaza this week, killing at least 50 people.

Israel said it was targeting a terrorist command structure, but Palestinian health authorities claimed hundreds of civilians were injured or killed after the strike.

Civilians have also died in crossfire at churches and hospitals where they have been seeking refuge from the war, either killed by Israeli strikes or Palestinian militant rockets.

Israeli forces have now encircled Gaza City, the Hamas stronghold, as they seeks to destroy the group. Troops are already fighting in tense urban battles, Israeli officials said Thursday, and the war is expected to get more violent as ground operations expand.

Blinken said Friday that the U.S. was working on getting humanitarian aid into Gaza to help civilians, noting the roughly 100 trucks crossing daily from Egypt into the battered coastal strip is “not enough.” He pledged to “substantially and immediately” increase the flow of assistance to civilians, as the United Nations and humanitarian groups have raised alarm about a mounting humanitarian crisis, with shortages of water, food and fuel.

And a U.S. envoy is in Tel Aviv to work with Israel on potential humanitarian pauses in the war, which would temporarily stop the fighting in order to assist civilians. President Biden this week said he supported a pause for humanitarian reasons.

Blinken said the details are still being worked out, including how a pause could be prevented from benefiting Hamas and how it could help with securing the release of hostages.

“These are issues that we need to tackle urgently, and we believe they can be solved,” he said. “We’ve agreed that our teams will continue to talk about this in the days ahead.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday that such a pause was out of the question unless Hamas releases hostages. The militants have released five hostages taken during the Oct. 7 attack but are still believed to have about 240 captives.