US Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in Israel on Friday, according to an AFP journalist traveling with him, on a tour focused on steps to reduce civilian casualties in the Gaza conflict.
Prior to his departure, Blinken stated that he would seek “concrete steps” from Israel to limit the harm done to Palestinian civilians, while US Vice President Joe Biden also called for humanitarian pauses in the fighting.
This is Blinken’s second journey to the Middle East since combat started on October 7 following a huge onslaught on southern Israel by the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas, which killed 1,400 people, largely civilians, according to Israeli officials.
More than 9,000 people have been killed in retaliatory Israeli bombings on Hamas sites in the Gaza Strip, including children According to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, more than 3,700 children have been killed.
“We will be talking about concrete steps that can and should be taken to minimise harm to men, women and children in Gaza,” Blinken told reporters before departing for Israel.
“This is something that the United States is committed to.”
“When I see a Palestinian child — a boy, a girl — pulled from the rubble of a collapsed building, that hits me in the gut as much as seeing a child in Israel or anywhere else,” Blinken said.
“So this is something that we have an obligation to respond to, and we will.”
Biden has promised full support and ramped-up military aid to Israel for its campaign in Gaza, but in a visible shift of tone has also voiced empathy for Palestinian suffering which has stoked anger in parts of the world.
“I think we need a pause,” Biden said on Thursday at a campaign event.
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby later clarified what such a pause would entail.
“A humanitarian pause… is temporary, localised and focused, focused on a particular objective or objectives, humanitarian aid in, people out,” Kirby told reporters.
