Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday delivered one of the Biden administration’s strongest public rebukes to Israel, which is in the midst of a war with Hamas in Gaza.
Blinken said in two television interviews that the United States wants Israeli forces to “withdraw from Gaza” amid what he described as “the horrific loss of innocent civilian life.” He also said Israeli tactics in the war have failed to neutralize Hamas, potentially creating a power “vacuum” in the Palestinian territories.
Asked about the United States’ withholding of high-performance munitions from its ally Israel, Blinken said: “We believe in two things: One, we have a clear commitment to protect civilians. “We need a reliable plan, which we haven’t seen yet. And secondly, neither do we.” We need to plan for what will happen after this conflict in Gaza is over, but we don’t see it yet because the parts of Gaza that Israel has removed from Hamas are now coming in. It is. Including the north, including Khan Yunis, came back. ”
He added: “If you look at Rafa, they may come in and have some initial success, but they can take an incredible toll on civilians, and it’s not durable. It’s not sustainable and they’ll be left holding the bag.” Because no matter what they do in Rafah, or even if they move out of Gaza as we believe they need to do, there will be a lot of armed Hamas left. This vacuum will likely be filled by chaos and anarchy, and may eventually be filled again by Hamas. ”
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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivered one of the Biden administration’s strongest public rebukes of Israel on Sunday. (AP Photo/Jake Bacon)
The comment was made during an appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
In an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Blinken also highlighted the findings of the new Biden administration’s report to Congress on Friday, which said Israel used U.S.-provided weapons in the Gaza Strip. He was the first official to repeat this in public. This is likely to be a violation of international humanitarian law.
“With regard to concerns about the use of weapons and the totality of the harm inflicted on children, women, and men, it is reasonable to assess that Israel has acted in a manner inconsistent with the Constitution in certain instances.” “This is international humanitarian law,” Blinken said, condemning the “horrible loss of life of innocent civilians.”
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“We treat Israel, one of our closest allies and partners, as we would any other country, including assessing things like international humanitarian law and its compliance.” he continued.
Blinken praised President Biden’s support for Israel, saying “no one has done more than Biden” to help America’s allies since the war broke out in October. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
In the same interview, Blinken praised President Biden’s support for Israel, saying, “No one has done more than Biden,” despite a clear change in tone.
“No one has acted more to protect Israel at critical junctures than President Biden,” the Secretary of State said. “When Iran launched an unprecedented attack on Israel, he was on the ground since October 7, becoming the first president to visit Israel in the midst of the conflict.A few weeks ago, 300 missiles, including ballistic missiles, A projectile was fired at Israel. For the first time in history, countries participated in an act of defense, and President Biden rallied a coalition of nations to help defend Israel.
Blinken spoke with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Sunday and reiterated U.S. opposition to the Israeli attack given the civilian casualties in Rafah, according to a State Department recount of phone calls.
The United States continues to oppose Israel’s attack on Rafah, given the civilian casualties in Rafah. (AFP via Getty Images)
He said the United States has been working with Arab countries and others for weeks to develop a “credible plan for security, governance, and reconstruction” for the Gaza Strip, but that “we cannot wait for it to be provided by Israel.” I’ve never seen it before,” he said. …We need to see that too. ”
More than 1 million Palestinians are forced to live in Rafah as Israel launches an offensive across Gaza. Israel considers the city one of the last strongholds of Hamas terrorists.
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The war began on October 7 after a Hamas attack on Israel killed 1,200 people.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
