News Desk - The Cradle
The fourth visit to Israel by Washington's top diplomat since the start of the war in Gaza coincides with reports saying the White House is urging Tel Aviv to 'take greater care to protect civilians' after the truce ends
"We have seen over the last week the very positive development of hostages coming home, being reunited with their families. And that should continue today. It's also enabled an increase in humanitarian assistance to go to innocent civilians in Gaza who need it desperately," Blinken said.
"So, this process is producing results. It's important, and we hope that it can continue," he added.
The comments came as the secretary was on his fourth visit to Israel since Operation Al-Aqsa Flood and the outbreak of the Gaza-Israel war on 7 October.
Blinken’s arrival coincided with a deadly shooting operation in Jerusalem, which killed three Israelis.
Upon being received by Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Blinken expressed condolences and condemned the “terrorism that Israel and Israelis face every single day.”
In the early hours of Thursday, Israel and Hamas agreed to a last-minute extension of the truce for 24 hours.
The US has been working with Qatar and Egypt to maintain the fragile truce. A sixth round of prisoner exchanges was held on Wednesday, 29 November, with another round expected to occur on Thursday evening.
Blinken also met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other members of the Israeli war cabinet during the visit.
"I look forward to detailed conversations with the government of Israel about the way ahead in Gaza," Washington’s top diplomat was quoted as saying.
The visit comes as Washington has been showing some concern over the potential resumption of Israel’s assault on Gaza, which Tel Aviv has vowed to continue after the ceasefire.
Over 20,000 Palestinians have been killed, and around 1.8 million displaced from northern Gaza to the south in the first round of fighting.
“Israel's looming offensive into southern Gaza” was on the agenda of Blinken’s visit to Israel.
Washington last month said there should be no “red lines” for Israel’s response to the 7 October operation.
However, senior US officials said this week that US President Joe Biden and others in the government are now asking Israel to “take greater care” to protect civilians and limit destruction of infrastructure.
"We have reinforced this in very clear language with the government of Israel - very important that the conduct of the Israeli campaign when it moves to the south must be done in a way that is to a maximum extent not designed to produce significant further displacement of persons," one of the officials said.
"You cannot have the sort of scale of displacement that took place in the north replicated in the south. It will be beyond disruptive; it will be beyond the capacity of any humanitarian support network. It can’t happen.”
The official added that Israel has been “receptive” to the idea.
Throughout the entirety of the fighting, Israel continued bombardment of southern Gaza despite simultaneously urging civilians to evacuate there.
Earlier in November, Israel dropped leaflets on southern Gaza telling residents to evacuate and warning them that they would be in “danger” if found near Hamas fighters.
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